Hot Springs and Arlee tangle on the court

The boys and girls basketball games between Hot Springs and Arlee this past Saturday were multi-faceted to say the least.

The Hot Springs girls rallied from a large early deficit and went on to take a 14-point, 42-28 win over the host Scarlets in their half of the intriguing doubleheader, while the Arlee boys locked horns with the Savage Heat from the other side of CSKT turf before pulling out a relatively narrow 58-51 win. 

The Lady Heat from Hot Springs came into the Arlee High gym riding a four-game win streak that was part of their 5-2 start to the 2024-25 basketball season and quickly found themselves in a 12-1 hole midway through the first quarter. 

Shaky passing and missed free throws helped boost Arlee to the big, early lead before Hot Springs righted the ship and scored the final five points of the opening period to cut the Scarlets lead to 12-6 at quarter’s end.  The Lady Heat were 2-7 in free throws during the first eight minutes of play. 

Hot Springs turned to their aggressive defense in the second quarter where they held Arlee to four points while scoring eight of their own, in the process cutting the hosts’ lead to 16-14 at halftime. 

In the third quarter, Hot Springs took the lead for the first time in the game with less than a minute remaining, with junior guard Kara Christensen sinking a two-pointer and a free throw to give the Lady Heat a 25-24 lead after three quarters of play. 

Then, in the fourth quarter, Hot Springs shook off the early shaky play and outscored Arlee 17-4 to secure their sixth victory of the still young season.  Christensen, who scored 15 points in the second half, finished with a game high 17 points.  Junior forward Lilia Sapanel added 11 points for the Lady Heat in their win. 

The boys' game, on the other hand, was up for grabs from start to finish, beginning with the first quarter, which ended in a 10-10 tie.  Arlee scored 21 points in the second quarter, behind the shooting of Josh Horn, who scored a game-best 21 points for the host Warriors. 

The Arlee second quarter output gave them a 31-25 lead at the half. 

But the Hot Springs team halted the swing in momentum in the third quarter when the battled the Warriors to a 14-14 tie.  That sent the game to the fourth quarter with Arlee ahead 45-39. 

Arlee added one point to their lead in the fourth quarter when they outscored Hot Springs 13-12 to produce the final seven-point margin of victory.   

Senior guard Weston Slonaker, who helped keep the score close in the second half, paced Hot Springs with 18 points, while senior post Nick McAllister chipped in 11 for the Savage Heat.  Sophomore Ben Aldridge and freshman Chase Depoe had nine points each for the Heat, who fell to 2-4 on the year with the loss. 

Arlee, atop the Western 6B conference, remained unbeaten and ran their record to 5-0 following the win over Hot Springs. 

Next up for the Hot Springs boys’ and girls' teams is a pair of games this Saturday on their home court against Seeley-Swan in a Western 13C conference encounter.