Lady Bobcats top Darby for another win

The good news is it’s just the beginning of the season.

For the Superior girls basketball team, that means there is plenty of time to improve on their solid start to the year.

For the Superior boys team it means there is plenty of time to improve.

The Lady Bobcats upped their season record to 3-1 with a 57-32 road win over Darby Friday, after losing 55-39 to the Seeley Lady Blackhawks in Superior Thursday evening.

The boys, meanwhile, are still searching for their first win of the year after dropping a hard-fought road game to Darby, 59-53, a night after being routed by Seeley 68-22 at home.

Both Superior teams are loaded with talented seniors. The girls are clicking, while the boys are not.

It’s early and things change during the year.

Friday night the Lady Bobcats got Superior’s only win of the week when they blew out the Lady Tigers in Darby.

Superior broke out of the gate early and led 19-6 at the end of the first quarter against the now 1-2 Lady Tigers. And with the defense playing its usual swarming scheme, things only got worse for the host team, which found itself in a 37-11 hole at halftime.

The Cats expanded that lead in the third quarter by outscoring Darby 12-6 for a 49-17 lead with one quarter to play.

Superior had four players who scored in double figures, paced by 13 points each from Payton Milender and Lani Crabb. Darby Haskins added 12 and point guard Isabella Pereira added 11 for the home team.

Thursday night the Lady Bobcats hosted Seeley and the results were almost opposite of Friday’s game.

The two teams fought a back-and-forth first quarter which ended with the Lady Blackhawks leading 16-14. Defense ruled the day in the second quarter as neither team scored 10 points, leaving Seeley with a 24-19 lead at the half.

Seeley’s Emily Maughan, who scored a game-high 22 points, helped propel the Lady Hawks to a 23-12 third quarter advantage which put them up 47-31 heading into the final quarter of play. It was a lead Superior could not overcome.

Crabb paced Superior with 15 points, while Milender added 10 on the night. The win boosted Seeley to 3-0 on the year

The boys, meanwhile, battled Darby to the last minutes of the game before the Tigers were able to hold off one last Superior rally and escape with their second win of the year.

The Tigers took a 16-12 first quarter lead and never looked back on their way to the narrow, hard-fought win that squared their season record at 2-2.

The Tigers held a 28-25 halftime lead, then gave themselves a little breathing room as they built a 45-33 lead at the end of three quarters of play. In the fourth quarter, a three-point shot by Superior guard Issac Miller pulled the Cats within two with just over a minute to play, 53-51, but the Tigers were able to hang on for the win as both teams struggled to make free throws down the stretch.

The weekend got off to a less than desirable start for the Bobcats when they ran into the boys Blackhawks. They fell behind 15-7 after one quarter of play, then were outscored 22-5 in the second period as Seeley built a comfortable 37-12 halftime lead.

Seeley kept up the pace in the second half as they coasted to their second win (2-1) of the young season. Superior dropped to 0-4 with the two losses during the week.

Orion Plakke led the Bobcats with 10 points, while Sean Mercado scored a game-high 21 points for Seeley.

Superior has just one game this week, a Friday home game against Mineral County rival St. Regis.