Hot Springs splits with St. Regis
It was a post-holiday split for the Hot Springs boys and girls in their games against home-standing St. Regis this past Thursday in an early season Western 13C basketball clash.
The St. Regis Tigers boosted their season record to 5-0 with a 60-45 win over the Hot Springs boys, while the Hot Springs girls evened the evening score with a 46-24 win over the Lady Tigers.
In their win over the Savage Heat, the St. Regis boys drained seven three-pointers, many at critical times as they took an early 17-10 lead after the first quarter and never looked back.
Senior Kaleb Park buried the first of the treys in the opening quarter as the swarming St. Regis defense kept the potent Hot Springs offense in check.
By halftime the St. Regis lead had grown to 33-22, with senior Hunter Stolla scoring seven second quarter points, including a three-pointer, helping hold off the Savage Heat.
Park threw in another trey in the third quarter, along with teammates Conner Lulis and Leevy Bush, who also hit from beyond the three-point arc. That helped St. Regis take a 48-32 lead heading into the final eight minutes of play.
In the fourth quarter, Lulis sank his third three-pointer of the game, tying him with Hot Springs sophomore Chase Depoe for most three in the game. Depoe, who has emerged as a serious scoring threat for Hot Springs, had two threes in the third quarter for Hot Springs.
Hot Springs sliced one point off the overall St. Regis lead in the fourth quarter, but it was too little, too late for the Heat.
Lulis finished with a game high 15 points for the Tigers, who also got 10 from Stolla and 12 points from Park. Hot Springs was led by senior guard Weston Slonaker, who had 12 points, and senior forward Nick McAllister who had 11.
“It was a nice conference win for our boys and they came out ready,” St. Regis head coach Jesse Allan said. “You could tell we were ready to play on our home floor for the first time this season. Big shots and some solid defense from Stolla and Park got us rolling. Hot Springs is always tough and makes you battle every possession. They are a good team and I know coach Benson (Hot Springs head coach) and his staff will keep them improving each week”.
The loss dropped Hot Springs to 2-4 on the season.
In the girls’ game, Hot Springs got six first-quarter points from junior forward Lilia Sapanel, a French foreign exchange student who has emerged as a strong rebounder and scorer for the Lady Heat this season.
With a 12-7 lead after one quarter of play, junior guard Kara Christensen scored six points in the second quarter to help the Lady Heat build a 27-15 halftime advantage.
In the third quarter, the Hot Springs front court trio of Brooke Jackson, Sapanel and Erica Cannon combined for 10 points as they dominated inside play as the Heat increased their lead to 41-21 with one quarter to play.
The fourth quarter was a low-scoring affair, with Hot Springs adding two points to their lead by outscoring St. Regis 5-3, securing the Lady Heat’s win and boosting their season mark to 5-2 overall and 3-0 in Western 13C conference play.
St. Regis is 2-2 overall.
Sapanel led all scorers with 15 points for Hot Springs, which also got eight points from Christensen and six each from Kora Hensrude and Jackson.
Shelby Simkins pace St. Regis with eight points, while Jamie Cleveland chipped in seven for the Lady Tigers.
Next up for Hot Springs is a pair of home games (boys and girls) this Saturday versus Seeley Swan. St. Regis boys and girls travel to Seeley this Friday (Jan 11), then return to their home court Saturday when they host class B Troy.