Whitefish girls fall by 1 to Ronan; drop games with Polson, Cut Bank
Jan. 11—After the school winter break, the Whitefish girls basketball team jumped back into action with three games in five days.
On Tuesday, Jan. 3, the Lady Bulldogs traveled to Ronan. Whitefish played even with the Maidens and had a slight lead heading into the fourth quarter. But with just 6 seconds left on the clock, Ronan capped a late comeback with a basket by Ariana Zepeda. The score put the Maidens ahead by 1 point, and they won the game 35-34 in a Northwest A league game.
"Both teams started out slow," Whitefish coach Bob Bolam said. "Action was a little better in the third quarter, we got an 11-point lead late in the third quarter but then we just got stuck in the mud it seemed like and really couldn't produce much offense."
Jude Perry was the hot shooter for Whitefish with a game-high 14 points and Bailey Smith added 10 points.
Against the Lady Pirates, Whitefish took the lead early on but ran out of gas in the second half. Polson's mix of full-court defensive pressure and its ability to get out on the fast break combined for the Pirates to take the game 44-32.
Whitefish junior Ainsley Scott led seven players in scoring with nine points.
"Polson's a good squad. The two girls that transferred in for them are really good players," Bolam said.
He added that a game-day decision was made to keep Bailey Smith out with a knee injury. Smith is a leading scorer for Whitefish and did not play against Polson or later Cut Bank last week.
Against Cut Bank, Bolam says his team just never got going in the game. The Wolves jumped out to a 12-4 lead in the first quarter and never looked back. Scott led Whitefish in this game as well with seven points. Cut Bank defeated Whitefish 61-30.
"The best thing about that game was getting our younger girls in to play a little more, help bring them along," Bolam said. "That was a tough one, but we come back out this week and keep moving forward."
The decision on if Smith will play this week was still up in the air as of Monday afternoon. Bolam emphasized that they want her back to 100% before she hits the court again.
Whitefish has two more league games this week, playing Columbia Falls on Thursday and Libby on Friday. Both are home in Whitefish; CFalls at 6 p.m. and Libby at 7:30 p.m.
Whitefish 7 7 13 7 — 34
Ronan 4 8 11 12 — 35
WHITEFISH — Jude Perry 14, Bailey Smith 10, Brooke Roberts 4, Hailey Ells 3, Ainsley Scott 3.
RONAN — Olivia Heiner 7, Lauryn Buhr 6, Bella Devereau- Trahan 6, Arianna Zepeda 5, Margaret Cordova 4, Ally Luedtke 3, Kylee Kelch 2, Oceanna Arnoux 2.
Polson 10 12 9 13 — 44
Whitefish 11 9 6 6 — 32
POLSON — Addyson Gallatin 20, Nikki Kendall 6, Ilysia Adams 6, Julia Barnard 4, Samantha Rensvold 4, Mila Hawk 2, Grace Simonich 2.
WHITEFISH — Ainsley Scott 9, Jude Perry 6, Brooke Roberts 5, Madi Gordon 4, Hailey Ells 4, Rya Hirsch 2, Yoli Krastev 2.
Cut Bank 12 18 16 15 — 61
Whitefish 4 10 9 7 — 30
CUT BANK — Destini Anderson 7, K Spotted Bear 9, Mackenzie Johnson 15, Aliyah Cruz 4, Makenna Burke 12, Madison Baker 7, R Wetzel 5, Darci Littrell 2.
WHITEFISH — Brooke Roberts 4, Yoli Krastev 3, Jude Perry 6, Camry Kelch 4, Rya Hirsch 4, Ainsley Scott 7, Hailey Ells 2.
