Hot Springs girls take fourth at 13C tourney
Hot Springs senior Brooke Jackson (22) looks to put up a shot versus a myriad of Seeley defenders during their District 13C playoff game this past week in Frenchtown. (Photo by Jen Christensen)
For the Hot Springs girls, their late season momentum paid off with a fourth-place finish in the Western 13C this past week, good for a trip to the Western Divisional tourney in Butte this week.
They finished the district tourney with a 2-2 record, beginning with an opening round 24-22 loss to eventual district champ Drummond. That loss put them in a Friday game against Victor, which the Lady Heat won 50-39. Next up for the Lady Heat was a game versus St. Regis.
Hot Springs held on for a 51-46 win over the Lady Tigers, putting them in the consolation final against Seeley-Swan, which the Lady Blackhawks won 52-29.
In their opener against Drummond, the two teams relied on defense to move on to the next round. In the end, Drummond had just enough “d” to pull out the two-point win.
The Lady Trojans held Hot Springs scoreless in both the first and second quarters, while scoring 14 of their own to give Drummond a 14-0 halftime lead.
Hot Springs kept battling in the second half, outscoring Drummond 11-2 in the third quarter to cut the Drummond lead to 16-11 with one quarter to play.
Hot Springs shaved three points off the lead in the fourth quarter, but it was not enough to overtake the eventual district champs.
In the consolation bracket Friday, the Lady Heat found themselves trailing Victor 11-8 after one quarter of play. The lead remained three at halftime, 21-18 in favor of Victor.
Hot Springs came out in the second half and tied the score at 29-29 by the end of the third quarter.
With sophomore guard Kara Christensen scoring 10 points in the fourth quarter, Hot Springs overtook Victor, outscoring them 21-10 in the final eight minutes of play to secure the Lady Heat win.
Christensen finished with a game best 24 points for the Heat.
The Hot Springs boys opened the tournament Thursday with a 68-37 loss to Lincoln, then rallied to defeat Drummond 45-39 in a Friday consolation round game.
The Savage Heat’s season came to an end Saturday after losing to Noxon 74-69 (see consolation round story).
Thursday against Lincoln, the Heat fought hard but trailed 9-6 after the first eight minutes. Lincoln outscored Hot Springs 12-6 in the second quarter, giving the Lynx a 21-12 halftime advantage.
Offenses took over for both teams in the second half, mostly in Lincoln’s favor. The Lynx out-pointed Hot Springs 21-10 in the third quarter to take a 42-22 lead into the final eight minutes of play.
Lincoln added 10 to their lead in the fourth quarter enroute to the win.
Senior guard Andrew Brown scored a game-high 26 points, including eight three-pointers, for Lincoln. Sophomore guard Chase DePoe scored a team-best 14 points for the Heat, who also got 11 points from senior post Nick McAllister.
In their game Friday versus Drummond in the consolation round, Drummond held Hot Springs to five points as they took a 14-5 lead after one quarter. Hot Springs regrouped and outscored the Trojans 12-6 in the second quarter, sending the two teams into the halftime break with Drummond leading 20-17.
Hot Springs rallied in the third quarter, outscoring Drummond 12-8 to take the lead, 29-28 with one quarter to play.
The Heat outscored Drummond 16-14 in the fourth, with 14 of the Hot Springs points coming at the free throw line, including five each by Ben Aldridge and Weston Slonaker.
McAllister topped Hot Springs with 11 points, while Slonaker had 11 and Aldrige contributed 10 to the Savage Heat win. The tournament left Hot Springs with a 7-13 overall season mark. They finished the 13C regular season with a 5-5 mark.