Superior boys get gritty win over Darby

With the season just a few games old, there are promising results emerging from the young, talented players on Superior High’s boys' and girls' teams.

The Bobcats boys are off to a 3-1 start with their sophomore-dominated roster and the girls are much improved over last year’s 6-14 team which came on strong at the end of the season. 

Superior’s boys team pulled out a hard-fought win over visiting Darby, 60-46, this past Friday night, while the girls fell to the Darby Lady Tigers, who left town with a 5-0 record after a 54-44 non-conference win. 

Both Superior teams closed out their pre-break schedule with road games in Charlo Saturday night. 

Superior’s boys, who start one senior, two juniors and two sophomores, took control of their game with the Tigers using their stingy defense and multi-pronged offense to take a 17-4 lead after one quarter of play. 

With Darby focusing on containing 6-5 Bobcats sophomore post Landon Richards, who was held to a season-low three points, the other members of the starting lineup and deep reserve contingent, stepped up to fill the void. 

Gannon Quinlan, a sophomore guard and speedy junior Phin Cataldo scored in double figures for the Bobcats during the game. 

However, Darby, which came into the game with a 1-3 season record, fought back in the second quarter, outscoring the home team 17-9 to make the score 26-21 in favor of Superior at the half. 

In this see-saw game, Superior was able to put some distance between itself and Darby when they broke loose for 22 points in the third quarter while holding Darby to 11.  Entering the fourth quarter, Superior was up 48-32. 

The Tigers managed to trim two points off the Superior lead in the final minutes of play, but the lead was far too great to overcome. 

Cataldo led the Bobcats offensive attack with 22 points, while Gannon tallied 21.  Darby’s McCoy Townsend led all scorers with 23 points in a losing effort for the Tigers. 

In the first game of the doubleheader at Superior High, the Darby girls fell behind 14-6 after one quarter of play as the swarming Lady Bobcats’ defense and solid shooting put the home team ahead early. 

Superior added two points to their lead in the second quarter, giving them a 30-20 halftime lead. 

But Darby showed why they are off to a good start by outscoring Superior 14-8 in the third quarter to cut the lead to 44-28.  Then, in the final eight minutes of play, the Lady Tigers erupted for 20 points while limiting the Lady Bobcats to six, erasing the Superior lead enroute to a 54-44 Darby victory. 

Darby’s Georgia Fisher led all scorers with 24 points, while teammate Hadley Heiland added 23 points for the Lady Tigers.  Superior was led by Makenzie Reum’s 21 points and got 11 points from senior forward Braelyn Mangold. 

Superior returns to action following the Christmas break with a pair of January 3 home games against Seeley-Swan.