T-Falls boys, girls earn wins over Troy

It was a clean sweep all the way around.

Friday, the Thompson Falls boys got a solid Western 7B basketball conference win with a 52-42 triumph over the Troy Trojans, in Thompson Falls. A short time later in the same venue, the Lady Hawks kept their conference regular season title hopes alive with a resounding 68-10 victory over the Lady Trojans.

Saturday it was Mother Nature’s turn to continue the “sweep” when she swept both teams off the court in a weather-related cancellation of the Blue Hawks’ and Lady Hawks’ scheduled home games with Anaconda.

In Friday’s action, the Blue Hawks boys upped their conference record to 4-3 and their overall mark to 7-5 by breaking away from the Trojans in the fourth quarter of what had been a very tight contest.

With senior standout Jesse Claridge not in the line-up, Thompson Falls scratched out a narrow 8-6 lead at the end of the first quarter as both teams played aggressively on the defensive end while shots were not falling into either basket.

The exact same scenario happened in the second quarter when both teams struggled to find an offensive rhythm. T Falls emerged from the low-scoring quarter with a 16-12 lead at the half.

After the intermission, the back and forth situation continued, as Troy outscored the Blue Hawks by a single point, 11-10, to set up what looked to be a last team with the ball wins situation.

However, paced by the game-high 20 points from sophomore Bryson LeCoure, T Falls found some solid offense in the fourth quarter and outscored the Trojans 26-19 to pull out the win.

Troy fell to 0-6 in conference play and 1-7 on the year with the loss.

LeCoure was five for seven from the floor (2 pointers) and added a pair of threes in his effort, which included eight rebounds and a four-for-six outing at the charity stripe.

Breck Ferris led the Hawks in rebounding with 12.

In the second game of the double header, the once-beaten Lady Hawks jumped all over winless Troy in the opening minutes of play, outscoring the Lady Trojans 29-2 by the end of the first quarter.

The carnage continued in the second quarter, leaving Thompson Falls with a commanding 47-7 lead at the half. Because of the 40-point lead, the Mercy rule (clock keeps running except for timeouts or injury) was in effect the rest of the game.

Thompson’s relentless defensive play then served up a shutout of the Lady Trojans in the third quarter, giving the host team a 60-7 lead heading into the final eight minutes of play.

While the defense was busy putting a lid on the Troy basket throughout the game, a foursome of Lady Hawks scored in double figures, paced by the game-high 15 points scored by senior forward Ellie Baxter.

The win boosted the Lady Hawks to 6-1 in 7B play and 10-1 on the season, with their only loss a defeat at the hands of unbeaten Bigfork earlier this year. The Valkyries and Hawks clash again February 9.

Baxter was joined in double figure scoring by Natalie Roberts, who had 14, Gabi Hannum, 12, and senior guard Chesney Lowe who chipped in 11 points.

Both Thompson Falls teams have a pair of road games this coming week, beginning tonight (Tuesday) with two games in Eureka. The Blue Hawks and Lady Hawks travel to Missoula Friday night for contests with Loyola.

Mother Nature will hopefully have the week off.