Defense carries girls in close win over Red Lodge

The Glasgow girls' basketball team split a pair of games at the Luzenac Classic in Three Forks this weekend, edging Red Lodge on Friday but losing to Whitehall on Saturday.

The game against Red Lodge started off well for the Scotties as they outscored the Redskins in the first two quarters to take a halftime lead of 27-19.

After the break the Scotties had to rely on defense to keep Red Lodge at bay. Though the Scotties held the Redskins in check for the third quarter, their own lack of scoring kept the game close. A 16-point fourth quarter for the Redskins made the game close but Glasgow was able to hold on to win 42-40.

“They're pretty athletic and they hit some shots that on most nights aren't going to go down,” head coach Willie Thibeault said. “But the defense kept us in both games.”

Taylor Markle followed up on her big games last weekend with a 12-point performance against Red Lodge, but didn't play on Saturday after learning of the tragedy in Hinsdale.

Against Whitehall the Scotties found themselves mired in a close, defensive game. Leading 15-12 at the half, Glasgow let the lead slip heading into the fourth 24-23. Then the Scotties game fell apart. The Trojans outscored Glasgow 14-3 in the final period, winning the game 53-37.

“We just didn't make real good decisions passing the ball in the fourth quarter,” Thibeault said. “We forced some things that weren't there and we missed some things that were there. But that comes with youth.”

This weekend the Scotties will take on two more tough teams, playing in their first conference game of the season, Friday at Harlem, and yet another team with one of the best players in the state. After falling to Glendive and future Lady Griz player Carly Selvig in the season's opening weekend, the Scotties now will face Selvig's future teammate, Jordan Sullivan, a 6-foot-2 athlete that will play at Montana next year, when Sidney comes to town for the Scotties home opener.

“Jordan is definitely one of the top two or three players in the state, in any class,” Thibeault said. “And Class A just plays more physical. But I was happy with the way are girls played (this weekend), because Whitehall's pretty physical too.”

The Scotties will be battling against their own height this weekend, playing against some taller schools. To combat the deficiencies of being small, Thibeault said the team needs to box out more aggressively, in order to keep taller teams off the offensive boards.

“We're also going to try to extend the floor and run,” Thibeault said. “The moral of our season is if we run and press that's to our advantage. If we have to walk and be methodical we're too small to do a lot of that stuff. So we're going to have to get the tempo up.”