Lady Tigers rebound with 2 wins

No longer an easy win on anyone’s schedule.

That can be said of the St. Regis girls basketball team as they continue to mark themselves as a dangerous opponent come playoff time.

Case in point, after falling earlier in the week to Mineral County rival Superior, the Lady Tigers bounced back with a pair of overwhelming victories to keep their season record above .500 and boost their Western 14C mark to 4-3.

Friday the Lady Tigers hosted Noxon in St. Regis and were not kind to the Lady Red Devils, beating them 43-25. That win came on the heels of a sound 51-20 thrashing of winless Two Eagle River in Pablo.

Against Noxon the Lady Tigers relentless defensive pressure and balanced offense were on full display.

St. Regis clawed their way to a 15-4 first quarter lead and coasted to a comfortable win over the visiting Lady Red Devils.

With a new-found interior game led by the Burnham sisters, senior Rylie and freshman Averie, the Lady Tigers have demonstrated they are more than a hot or cold outside shooting team. The 5-10 Averie has emerged as a solid rebounding and inside scoring force the team has not had in previous seasons.

And when added to the talented, experienced back court players that have been gritting it out for the past two or three seasons, St. Regis is no longer an easy mark.

In the game with Noxon, they also showed they do not get rattled by opponent rallies and have developed an ability to hold on and not let leads slip away.

For example, even with a 15-4 first quarter lead against Noxon, the Lady Tigers did not loose focus when Noxon battled back in the second quarter, cutting their halftime lead to 24-12. Instead, the Lady Tigers came out and outscored the Red Devils 13-4 to push their led to 37-16 heading into the final eight minutes of play.

Their early aggressiveness was enough to overcome some minor Noxon rallies and hold on for the win. Junior sharp-shooter Macy Hill led all scorers with 13 points, many from long distance spots on the hardwood. And they got help from their bench as Karmen Alexander and senior Taylor Hurd each tossed in seven points, while Averie Burnham added eight points on under-the-basket scores.

Two days earlier, and just one day after being bounced by Superior, the Lady Tigers traveled to Pablo to take on the winless Two Eagle River Lady Eagles. And once again St. Regis came out early, built a lead and fended off any hopes Two Eagle may have had about catching up.

By the end of the first quarter the Lady Tigers were up 14-2, then 27-6 by the end of the first half. And once again they got consistent outside scoring from Hill, inside and outside scoring from Baylee Pruitt and solid points and rebounds from Averie Burnham.

Hill, who has found her three-point touch as of late, led all scorers with 21 points, while Pruitt connected for 17. Burnham added 10.

By the end of the third quarter the St. Regis lead had grown to 46-13 and the Lady Tigers wrapped up another win.

St. Regis is scheduled to play a make-up game against Hot Springs in St. Regis tonight (Tuesday), then travel to Charlo for a Friday night game with the conference leading Lady Vikings. The Lady Tigers capped their week with a home game against Drummond Saturday evening.