Third Place Scotties

The Scotties' season turned much for the better in the matter of two calendar days and, say, 30 seconds of game clock.

When they woke up last Friday, the girls occupied fourth place in District 2B. By Saturday evening, they were in third – for good – after closing their regular season with a win over last place Poplar and a stunning rally over second place Wolf Point.

Early in the season, coach Jon Kolstad said, "We're going to be OK," after the Scotties' rough start. He called the team a work in progress. Are they OK now?

"Yeah, we are improving," Kolstad told The Courier. "We haven't peaked yet. We're pulling the little things together. That was our goal, to put it together at the end."

On Saturday, they put it together at the end. No other way to put it.

Trailing since the first quarter and down 7 points with about half a minute left, the rookie coach's girls hustled to the win, 45-44, over the Wolf Point team that crushed them, 56-27, on Jan. 17.

The turnaround unfolded as Leinie Hughes sunk two free throws, her first two of the night after four misses. The Scotties regained the ball quickly, and Abbi Kolstad popped a 3. They quickly fouled Wolf Point's Mariah Weeks, who hit the front end of a 1 and 1, and then pulled down the rebound in the outlet after the miss. Abbi Kolstad drove the length of the court for a layup and was fouled. She hit the free throw.

Scotties win. It's on to District as the third seed.

"Against Wolf Point, we didn't give up. We kept pressing," the coach said. "I was happy that not one of the girls on the team gave up. It turned out well."

What a difference one month made. In the Jan. 17 blowout loss to the Lady Wolves, Kolstad said the Scotties played afraid, letting Wolf Point control them and the pace. In Saturday's thriller, he said they executed better and played more aggressively on defense, even taking a couple of charges in the game.

Kolstad commended senior point guard Amanda Wolff for holding Wolf Point's Emma Gourneau to 10 points in the Senior Night victory. The determined Wolff played so hard that she became dehydrated and threw up in a bucket after Kolstad pulled her out. Then she drink some water and went back in. Wolff also scored 10 points.

Abbi Kolstad led the Scotties with 23 points after her 31-point performance against Poplar the day before. Also scoring against Wolf Point were Hughes with 8 and Lexie Nixdorf with 4.

"Abbi's been going to the bucket and finishing better," the coach said. "She's shooting over 50 percent from the field, which is helpful."

Kylie Driftwood led the Wolves with 16 points. Kolstad said Wolf Point's Shelby Hanks left the game in the first half with an ankle sprain and went scoreless, but he expects this competitor will face the Scotties at District.

Eight Scotties got on the scoreboard in the 72-39 win over Poplar. Also scoring were Hughes with 12, Tyra Johnson with 10, Jordan Kulczyk and Khloe Krumwiede with 6 each, Wolff with 4, Nixdorf with 2 and Delaney Holzworth with 1. Kulczyk also forced 9 steals in the Poplar game, most coming off the press.

Angel Bighorn led the Lady Indians with 9 points.

A couple of quick rematches loom at District in Wolf Point. Glasgow (6-4, 10-8) opens 8 p.m. Thursday with Poplar (0-10, 5-13) and the winner advance to face Wolf Point (7-3, 13-5) at 8 p.m. Friday.

The Glasgow-Wolf Point winner will face the mighty M-ettes of Malta (10-0, 18-0) in the championship at 8 p.m. Saturday, barring the most unforeseen of upsets by Plentywood (5-5, 9-9) or Harlem (2-8, 4-14) against the blue crew.

Plentywood lost to Wolf Point and Malta last weekend, enabling Glasgow to pass it in the standings.

The Scotties enter District in good health. They appear likely to be among the top four finishers who will advance to Divisional at Malta next week, but Kolstad knows it must be earned.

"We can't look past District," he said. "We're a young team. We're just going to do the simple things and execute. Hopefully that will bring us into the second game against Wolf Point. It will be a tough game on their court. We'll see what our girls are made of that night, if they can bring that same intensity (against the Wolves) two weeks in a row."