Thompson Falls teams top Charlo, Mission
It was a busy week that would have been awesome for the Thompson Falls boys’ and girls' basketball team had it not been for a pair of games against red-hot Missoula Loyola’s boys and girls.
Aside from losses to both Loyola teams, the Blue Hawks and Lady Hawks went 2-0, with wins over Charlo and Mission.
The boys began their week with a 71-42 win over the Bulldogs in St. Ignatius, then dropped a 71-26 game to Loyola Thursday, before closing out their week with a 79-33 win over struggling Charlo.
That scenario was mostly repeated by the T Falls girls, who collected a hard-fought 53-47 win over St. Ignatius Tuesday, then ran into the Loyola buzz saw and fell 68-25. As with the boys, the Lady Hawks regrouped from their trip to Missoula and beat Charlo’s girls 45-38.
Tuesday in St. Ignatius, the two boys' teams battled to a 6-6 draw after the first quarter, before the Blue Hawks outscored Mission 24-19 to create a 30-25 lead at halftime.
From there on, the second half belonged to T Falls, as they outscored the host team 41-17 to ice the 71-42 win. Senior Bryson LeCoure led the Blue Hawks with 18 points, as 12 players scored, including Braedon Ferris who had 10.
St. Ignatius’ Lex LaFrombois led all scorers with 26.
Thursday night the Blue Hawks traveled to Missoula to take on the Heart Breakers, who lived up to their nickname when they roared out to a 20-8 first quarter lead, then extended the advantage to 40-13 by halftime.
Loyola outscored T Falls 31-13 in the second half as they coasted to the easy win. Ethan Stack scored 25 for Loyola to lead all scorers, while LeCoure had a team-high of six points for T Falls.
Saturday the Blue Hawks returned to action on their home floor and took out their frustrations on Charlo, outscoring the Vikings 36-9 in the first quarter. They continued the offensive and defensive charge in the second quarter, outpointing the visitors 26-12 on their way to a commanding 62-21 lead at the half.
With reserves seeing lots of playing time, T Falls outscored Charlo 17-12 in the second half to complete the rout. Ethan Burgess paced the Blue Hawks scoring effort with 17 points, while Owen Doyle had 15, as did LeCoure as 10 players put in points for T Falls.
The Lady Hawks also had a 2-1 week, beginning with their six-point win over St. Ignatius (Mission) Tuesday night. T Falls took an 11-6 first quarter lead, then battled the home team to an 11-11 draw in the second quarter. At the half, the Lady Hawks were in front 22-17.
The second half was a back-and-forth affair, with T Falls outscoring the Lady Bulldogs 31-30 over the final two quarters to secure the Western 7B conference win.
Addy Deal scored a game-high 19 points for the Lady Hawks, who also got double-figure scoring from junior Gabi Hannum (14) and guard Solveig Nygaard (10).
Then it was on to Missoula to take on the 6-1 Loyola Sacred Heart Breakers who opened the game with a 25-10 lead after the first eight minutes of play. The Breakers continued to pour it on in the second quarter, outscoring T Falls 20-5 on their way to a 45-15 halftime advantage.
Loyola added 13 points to their lead by outpointing T Falls 23-10 in the second half to seal the win.
Hannum and Deal each scored eight points to lead the Lady Hawks, who got 31 points from Spencer Laird.
Home cooking proved beneficial to the Lady Hawks Saturday night when they took on the Charlo Lady Vikings, who came in with a 4-1 season record.
T Falls was up 15-10 after the first quarter and 25-19 at halftime. Charlo stayed close but the Lady Hawks outscored them 20-19 in the second half and hung on for the non-conference win.
Nygaard led the Lady Hawks with 16 points, while Deal added 14 and Hannum contributed 13 in the victory over Charlo. The pair of wins left T Falls with a 4-5 overall record.
Next up for the T Falls boys and girls are a pair of home games this Friday (Jan 17) against Sanders County rival Plains in T Falls. The Blue Hawks and Lady Hawks then journey to Eureka for a pair of conference games against the Lions and Lady Lions this Saturday (Jan 18).