Noxon teams primed for tourney time

The District 14C regular basketball season is in the books and for the Noxon boys and girls a good showing this past week sets them up for some interesting action in the District tourney in two weeks.

The Lady Red Devils grabbed a pair of impressive victories this past week, first dominating Two Eagle River’s girls 60-30 in Pablo, then coming home to race past Alberton 56-11.

The Noxon boys also had a good showing, pushing third-place Two Eagle River to the limit before falling 68-59 in Pablo, then holding off a determined Alberton team 57-44 in Noxon.

The Lady Red Devils got things rolling Friday night in Pablo where they exploded to a 24-6 lead by the end of the first quarter. Senior standout Emily Brown led a multi-pronged Red Devils attack as they controlled the backboards and scored in bunches to take down the Lady Eagles.

By halftime Noxon had boosted their lead to a seemingly insurmountable 41-14 score, then traded baskets with the home team throughout the second half as they coasted to the 14C win.

Saturday night in Noxon, the Lady Devils jumped all over the winless but never-quit Panthers girls, coming out of the opening tip on their way to a 16-2 first quarter lead. Once again the Lady Devils were paced by Brown, who finished the night with a game-best 30 points.

By halftime the home team held a 29-5 lead over Alberton. The Lady Devils outscored the Lady Panthers 27-6 in the second half, including an 11-0 edge in the fourth quarter as they rolled to the victory in their final Western 14C conference game of the year.

With the 14C District tourney coming up February 16-18 in Ronan, Noxon has a 6-5 league record and an 8-8 overall season mark. The Lady Devils close out the regular season with a game this Tuesday at home against Troy.

Alberton, which has a final regular season, non-conference game at home this Saturday against Lincoln, fell to 0-8 in the league and 0-10 on the year, their first as a varsity participant.

Arya Ray led the Panthers with 6 points.

The Noxon boys opened their week with a road game against the surging Two Eagles boys, who had handed regular season league champion Charlo its only conference loss of the year.

Noxon fell behind 23-12 after the first quarter of play, and trailed 36-18 at halftime before they rallied in the second half.

The Red Devils got their offense rolling in the third quarter, outscoring Two Eagle River 22-19 to cut the Eagles lead to 55-40 heading into the final eight minutes of play.

Noxon outscored the Eagles 19-13 in the fourth quarter, but could not quite overcome the early deficit. Sophomore Ricky Williams led Noxon with 19 points, while Thomas Spotted Eagle topped Two Eagle River with a game-high 21.

Noxon returned home Saturday night in a game against the Alberton boys, who were looking for their first win of their inaugural varsity season.

The Red Devils fought off the upset-minded Panthers in a back-and-forth first quarter, which Noxon led 11-9 after the first eight minutes of play. The Red Devils then ran away from Alberton in the second stanza, 22-11, on their way to a 33-20 halftime lead.

Noxon added 13 points to its lead in the third quarter and held on as the Panthers rallied in the fourth quarter.

Alberton ouscored the host team 14-2 in the last quarter but the initial Red Devils lead was too much for them to overcome.

The win boosted the Red Devils to 4-8 in 14C play and 4-11 on the year. They close out their regular season tonight (Tuesday) with a home game versus Troy.

Two Eagle River finished the regular season with a 9-3 conference record and a 12-5 overall mark.