Plains Trotters control the court

PLAINS – The Trotters opened up the District 7-B playoffs with a big win over the Troy Lady Trojans.

Plains controlled both the offensive and defensive portions of the game from the outset and cruised to a 53-26 victory at home to advance to the District 7-B finals against Bigfork.

In the opening game of the team’s postseason schedule, the Trotters wasted no time getting out in front, going on a 17-4 run to start the game’s first quarter.

The home team kept up their offensive pressure and put up another 17 points in the second half of play to make the score 34-11 in favor of Plains at halftime.

The pace of the contest slowed down in the game’s second half but the Trotters continued to build on their early advantage, extending their lead to 42-18 at the end of the third quarter.

In the game’s final frame the Trotters outscored Troy 9-8 to give them a 27-point win to open the playoffs.

Plains seniors Hailey Phillips and Kayla Holmes led the Trotters offense against Troy.

Both Phillips and Holmes ended the game with 12 points.

With the victory over Troy, the Trotters move to 16-3 on the year and advance to the District 7-B finals against Bigfork on Saturday, Feb. 21 in Columbia Falls.

Competition for the 7-B title last weekend was intense with both Bigfork and Plains battling for the honor.

The game, which featured plenty of free throw shooting with Bigfork taking 41 free throw attempts and Plains shooting 17 shots of their own from the charity stripe went in favor of Bigfork.

The Valkyries were 22 of 41 from the free throw line, while the Trotters ended with a 7 for 17 mark.

The two seeded Valkyries used a big second half to get by the tournament’s top seeded Trotters and earn the District 7-B title with a 50-38 victory.

The Trotters jumped out to the early lead in the contest hosted in Columbia Falls, ending the first quarter with a 17-14 lead.

However, Bigfork rallied in the second quarter, outscoring the Trotters 10-4 to take a 24-21 advantage into the half.

The Valkyries kept up their momentum in the second half outscoring Plains 15-10 in the third quarter and 11-10 in the game’s final quarter to earn the 12-point victory.

Phillips led the Trotters offense in the district finals, ending her game with 11 points.

Plains senior Sami Kinzie was also a contributor on the offensive end, finishing the game with six points of her own.

The Plains Trotters will enter the Western B Divisional Tournament in Kalispell as the no. 2 seed.

The divisional tournament will kick off on Wednesday, Feb. 25 at Flathead High School.