Basketball: St. Regis girls on a roll
Don’t look now but the “Fun Bunch” just rattled off three wins in a row.
Yup, the St. Regis Lady Tigers, the fun-loving group of hoopsters who dance on the sidelines and the court, made it a sweep last week when they recorded wins over the Frenchtown JV, the Arlee Maidens and the Victor Lady Pirates.
They began their waltz last Tuesday evening with a 41-29 win over the Lady Broncs, punctuated it with a 46-36 bee-bopping of Arlee, then square danced their way past Victor 48-29 Saturday evening in St. Regis.
And presto-chango those youngsters with so much promise appear to have turned the corner thanks to some solid defense, deadly three-point shooting and, at last, an inside game complete with rebounding.
Last Tuesday on their home court, the Lady Tigers took control early and never looked back as they rolled past Frenchtown’s taller JV squad.
St. Regis jumped to an early 12-8 lead in the first quarter thanks in part to the play of promising 5-10 freshman Averie Burnham, who has become a rebounding force who can score under the basket.
The two teams battled to a low-scoring standstill in the second quarter as neither could find the range from outside the key. At halftime the score was 17-12 St. Regis.
After the half, junior Macy Hill began to find the range from the outside and Burnham continued to be a force inside, something the Lady Tigers have been lacking for the past two seasons.
That combination, along with the defense and floor leadership of senior Baylee Pruitt, allowed St. Regis to begin to pull away from the Lady Broncs and build a 33-22 lead heading into the final quarter of play.
St. Regis was able to play basket for basket the rest of the way and used some clutch free throw shooting to wrap up the win.
Burnham wound up scoring 16 points, mostly on put-back rebounds, to lead all scorers. Pruitt and Hill had 11 and 12 points respectively to aid the Lady Tigers cause.
Friday night the Tigers hit the road and traveled to Arlee for a game with the Scarlets. This time they fell behind early, then put together strong second and third quarters to pull ahead. And once again the combination of Hill’s outside shooting and Burnham’s presence under the basket helped them build a lead and hang on for a solid win on Arlee’s home court.
Hill led all scorers with 13 points, while Burnham added 12 for St. Regis. Shylah Dalka also scored in double figures, tossing in 11 points.
Next up was a home game against Victor.
And once again, the inside-out game was working for the Lady Tigers who got a pair of three-pointers from Hill and one from Pruitt to scratch out a 15-6 first quarter lead.
In the second quarter, Victor went on a mini-roll midway through the period and managed to cut the lead to 20-14 at the half.
But Hill put on a long distance show in the third quarter, burying three from beyond the arc and adding a two-pointer for good measure as St. Regis outscored Victor 22-8 in the third to build a 42-22 lead with one quarter to go.
The final quarter was largely uneventful compared to the fireworks of the third period, and St. Regis held off the visitors to complete the trifecta for the week.
Hill had 19 points to lead all scorers, while Pruitt, who also hit three from long range, scored 14.
Burnham wrapped up a solid week of play with 10 points and was once again a force on the boards for the Lady Tigers.
The Lady Tigers have one game left before the winter break, a crucial home matchup with perennial power Charlo, in St. Regis this Friday night.