Hot Springs teams ends season at divisional

They can take consolation in the fact they made it to the Divisional playoffs.

And both of the Hot Springs boys and girls teams, loaded with underclassmen, figure to be back next year.

But for the girls, who finished second in the Western 14C regular season and District tournament, behind Charlo’s girls, next year’s promise will have to do. And for the boys Savage Heat, who had a play-in challenge game chance at advancing last Monday night in Alberton, the season also came to an end.

The Lady Savage Heat opened Division play Thursday afternoon in Frenchtown and quickly fell behind the Lady Wolverines from West Yellowstone, 20-4 after the first quarter of play. It was a deficit that they could not overcome.

By halftime, West Yellowstone was up 33-12 on their way to a semi-final confrontation with White Sulphur Springs.

Both teams battled through a low-scoring second half, with the Lady Wolverines adding two points to their halftime time lead by outscoring Hot Springs 12-10 over the last two quarters.

Junior forward Brooke Jackson led the Lady Savage Heat with six points, while Ari Spence scored a game-high 12 for the Lady Wolverines, who improved their season mark to 10-8 with the win.

The loss pushed Hot Springs into a consolation round match up with 13C’s Seeley Swan Blackhawks.

Both teams opened with aggressive play that resulted in several early fouls and produced a 12-12 tie at the end of the first quarter.

Seeley got their offense on track in the second quarter, building a hard-fought 31-24 halftime lead over the cold shooting Lady Savage Heat

The Blackhawks kept up the defensive pressure on Hot Springs throughout the second half during which they outscored the Heat 34-14 to secure the win and lift their season record to 15-9.

The loss eliminated Hot Springs from the divisional tourney and closed out their season with a 10-9 mark.

Senior Lauryn Aldridge closed out her high school basketball career with a team best 12 points. Sophomore guard Kara Christensen scored 11 for Hot Springs.

The Blackhawks got a game-best 18 points from Lillian Boyd and 17 from Darby Gleason in the win. They stayed alive in the tournament and advanced to the second round of consolation play where they defeated Charlo 42-35.

Meanwhile the Hot Springs boys, who finished third in the District 14C tournament played in a challenge game last Monday in Alberton where they took on the Drummond Trojans.

Hot Springs fell behind 15-6 after one quarter of play, then were outscored 20-6 by the Trojans to make it a 35-14 halftime lead for Drummond.

The Trojans went on to outscore Hot Springs 29-18 over the final two quarters to seal the win and advance to the Divisional tournament in Frenchtown.

Hot Springs junior forward Nick McAllister scored eight points, as did teammate Weston Slonaker, to lead the Heat, who finished their season with a 7-14 mark.

As is the case with the Hot Springs girls, the Heat return a solid core of underclassmen for next year.