Hot Springs girls nip the Plains Trotters, 51-50

Good karma begets good karma?

In what turned out to be one of the best games of the 2021-22 season, the Hot Springs girls nipped the Plains Trotters 51-50 in a down to the wire non-conference battle Tuesday night.

The game opened with a symbolic gesture of caring when Hot Springs senior standout Katelyn Christensen helped injured fellow senior Moria Lonergan to a position under the Lady Savage Heat basket where Lonergan would await a pass that would mark the end of her playing days at Hot Springs.

Un-guarded or contested, Lonergan banked in a short shot from inside the key to give the home team a brief 2-0 lead. As if to say “thanks” Hot Springs yielded a gimme lay-up to the Trotters to tie the game at two in a show of good sportsmanship and good will that preceded a nail biter of a game.

And when the final horn sounded, it would be the host Savage Heat who held on for the thrilling one-point win.

Shortly after the opening ceremonial shots, Plains went on a tear and in the blink of an eye had established an 8-2 lead. But the Lady Savage Heat were able to get some offense going to prevent what had the makings of a Plains blowout win.

Plains senior guard Kaylah Standeford was on target in the first quarter, hitting on a pair of two-pointers and tossing in a three from long range as the visitors built a 16-9 lead at the end of the first eight minutes of play.

Standeford would finish as the game’s leading scorer with 25 points, two tallies ahead of Christensen who led Hot Springs with 23 points.

The two senior guards waged a spirited battle throughout the game. In the second quarter, Standeford had another two-pointer and another three-pointer as the Trotters rolled into the halftime intermission with a 27-18 lead.

Christensen, who is headed to Carroll College on a track scholarship for next year, added five more points of her own in the second quarter, then got things rolling for Hot Springs in the opening moments of the second half. She added six points to the Lady Savage Heat total in quarter number three, which ended with Plains holding a 39-33 advantage.

The fourth quarter proved to be a final regular season show by Standeford and Christensen, as both senior leaders scored nine points. With two minutes left to play in the game, Hot Springs had all but erased the game-long deficit and trailed the Trotters by one, 46-45. Standeford gave Plains a little breathing room with a free throw and basket in the waning moments of the contest, but Hot Springs managed to take the lead at 51-50 with 22 seconds remaining to be played.

Neither team was able to score after that and Hot Springs’ dramatic comeback win on Senior Night was complete.

The win boosted the Lady Savage Heat to 5-8 on the season and left their Western 14C mark at 3-6 with District playoffs starting this week in Ronan.

Plains fell to 0-9 on the year and 0-7 in Western B play, with the Trotters next action being the 7B district tournament, also this coming weekend, in Pablo.

Hot Springs closed out their regular season play this past Saturday night with a 65-37 road loss to unbeaten Seeley-Swan.

The Lady Blackhawks upped their season record to 18-0 with the win as they prepared for this weekend’s Western 13C district playoffs.

The Lady Blackhawks jumped ahead early against the Trotters, racing to a 24-12 lead at the end of the first quarter. They continued their offensive assault in the second stanza and upped their lead to 41-20 by halftime.

The second half was not as bad for Plains as was the first half, but they still fell further behind in the third and fourth quarters as the tall, talented Lady Blackhawks coasted to the win.

Plains will participate in the Western 7B district tournament beginning this Thursday in Pablo.