Superior girls run past Hot Springs

Those rumblings you may hear from the southern territory of the Western 14C girls basketball conference have been traced to Superior.

And the talk is about to get louder following the Lady Bobcats’ 54-18 dismantling of outgunned Hot Springs in a conference contest in Hot Springs Saturday night.

Following a semi-rocky start to their 2021-22 season, the Superior girls have been on a roll that has quietly propelled them into a tie atop the conference standings with perennial powerhouse Charlo.

Both Superior and Charlo have 3-0 14C records as the conference heads into the second half of this year’s schedule. Charlo has an 8-1 record overall while the Lady Cats are now above .500 on the season with a 4-3 overall mark.

The two teams meet for the first time this year this Friday, January 11, when the Superior girls travel to Charlo.

As has been the case for several games, if not several seasons, the Lady Bobcats used a high-paced, smothering defense to interrupt any and all attempts by the host Lady Savage Heat to get an offense going.

The two teams were tied 6-6 at the end of the first quarter before the bottom dropped out on Hot Springs. Savage Heat senior forward Katelyn Christensen did what she could to keep her team in the game early, scoring all six of Hot Springs’ first quarter points.

However, one person scoring was not enough to counter the balanced Superior attack.

The Lady Cats would get scoring contributions from throughout their lineup before the evening was over, including a devastating 27-4 run in the third quarter that put the game out of reach for the home team.

Superior had already built a 19-10 halftime lead before exploding for 27 third quarter points, fueled by their turnover-generating defense and long-distance shooting from the likes of speedy point guard Isabella Pereria, who had a trio of three-point baskets on the night.

The third quarter outburst put Superior up 46-14 heading into the final eight minutes of play as reserves began collecting valuable playing experience the rest of the way.

Christensen would end up scoring 13 of her team’s 18 points.

The loss dropped Hot Springs to 2-3 on the year and 1-1 in conference play.

For Superior the win helped offset the postponement of a highly anticipated game with Interstate 90 rival St. Regis that was to have been played last Thursday. Heavy snow and winds were the culprit behind the canceled game.

But schedulers from both schools worked quickly to establish a make-up game, which was set to be played in Superior last night (Monday, January 10). Following that game, the Lady Bobcats prepared for their first-place clash with Charlo, this coming Friday on the Lady Vikings home court.

Hot Springs has a game this Tuesday (Jan 11) in Plains against the Trotters before returning home to take on Charlo Saturday night.