A Pair Of Deuces: Scottie Teams Place Second Part 2

Scottie Girls fall one win short of the District 2B Champions

By Alex Page

à¤ï¿½The Wolf Point High School gymnasium had a full house for three days from the District 2B Boys and Girls Basketball Tournament. The Scottie girls went into the tournament with a third place seed and came out with a second place finish. They were just one win short of being crowned the District 2B Champions.

à¤ï¿½In last Thursday's first round action, the Scotties faced off against the No. 6 seed, the Poplar Indians. They beat the Indians 51-34 in the contest. The game was pretty close throughout the first half of play. Then, in the third quarter, the Scotties were able to extend a comfortable lead and never let Poplar back in the game.

The leading scorer for the Scotties was Rose Reyling with 13 points.

à¤ï¿½When asked about the game, head coach Willie Thibault said, “We started off flat, and then managed to step it up later on in the game. A win is a win.”

à¤ï¿½The win matched the Scotties up for a semifinal game against the Plentywood Wildcats, who had received a first round bye. In the regular season, the Scotties had split with the Wildcats, having lost their last matchup after giving up a 16 point lead at home. It did not help to have four of their five starters fouled out at the end of game. This time, the Scotties were determined to get the win when it really mattered.

à¤ï¿½The Wildcats led nearly the entire game despite constant pressure by the Scotties. At one point, Plentywood’s lead was up to nine but the Scotties kept chipping away. In the fourth quarter, the Scottie girls came out and hit some big shots to go ahead and were able to maintain that lead up until the final buzzer. The final score was Glasgow on top, 43-39.

“We came out and played like it was our first day of practice offensively, then we started attacking the basket and the game changed dramatically," Thibault said. "Our defense brought us back into the game and us being where we needed to be was a good thing.”

The leading scorer for the Scotties was Alaina Cole with 11 points.

à¤ï¿½With the win over the Wildcats, the Scottie girls were headed to the championship game against the Malta Mustangs. Despite a few early miscues for the Scotties, they managed to keep up with Malta and led the contest 14-13 after the first quarter of play. The score remained close up until the last final minutes of the second quarter, when Malta made a run on the Scotties to take a 29-20 lead at half-time.

Offensively, the Scotties had a hard time drawing out Malta’s defense and had difficulty finding their shots at times, only scoring 4 points in the 3rd quarter. The girls had a pretty good start, just not a good finish. The Scotties lost, 50-35.

Leading scorers for the Scotties were Jami Johnson with 10 and Alex Page with 9.

“We played solid basketball for two and a half quarters," Thibault said. "We need it solid all throughout the game.”

à¤ï¿½The Scotties finished in second place, and will now face the Conrad Cowboys for their first game at the Divisional Tournament to be held at Shelby High School. Tournament action will start Thursday, March 1, and the Scotties will play the late game starting at 8 p.m.

“It should be a good matchup," Thibault said. "I like how we play against taller teams. Hopefully the game ends in our favor.”

à¤ï¿½The Scotties will have seven days of practice to get ready for the Divisional tournament. The last two years the Scotties have participated in the challenge game. Hopefully the pattern continues.

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