St. Regis girls win 14C consolation final

As advertised, the St. Regis Lady Tigers are not a team to be overlooked in high school basketball’s postseason battles.

The Tigers put a stamp on that thought Saturday afternoon when they won the consolation round at the District 14C tournament in Polson, keeping their playoff hopes alive.

The hard-fought 37-33 win over Two Eagle River (TER) propelled the Lady Tigers into a play-in game versus Lincoln from the 13C conference for the right to represent the two conference as a number three seed.

That game was to be played this past Monday night in Alberton, after the VP-MI press deadline.

Meanwhile, the Lady Tigers had a tough fight on their hands with TER, which came into the game with a 6-13 record. St. Regis got five first quarter points in the paint from senior forward Ameyla Jensen to take an 11-7 lead at the end of the opening stanza.

They then turned loose their scrappy defense in the second quarter, holding the Lady Eagles to two points while scoring 14 of their own. That sent the two teams into the halftime break with St. Regis ahead 25-12.

But the Lady Eagles were not done as they outscored St. Regis 8-7 in the third quarter, trimming one point off the Tigers’ lead. TER staged a fast and furious rally in the fourth quarter, out-scoring St. Regis 18-7.

But in the end it was too little, too late for the Lady Eagles, who closed the gap to 34-32 with just over two minutes to play.

A timely two-point basket by junior point guard Shylah Dalka boosted the led to 36-32 with less than one minute remaining, preserving the final margin of victory that sent the now 7-8 overall Lady Tigers to the play-in game.

Dalka scored 10 points to lead the Lady Tigers, while Jensen added eight for St. Regis, while Keke Tenas scored a game-high 12 points for TER.