by Scott Sacry
On Thursday, January 19th, Darby made the trip north to face Victor in an all-Bitterroot Valley matchup. The Darby Tigers dominated the court, winning both games.
The girls played first and Darby won, 49-29. A close 1st quarter ended with Darby ahead, 15-10. Then the Lady Tigers outscored the Lady Pirates 18-4 in the second quarter to hold a commanding lead at halftime. It was more of the same in the second half as Darby controlled the game and got the win. For Victor, Abby Kay hit 4 three pointers en route to a team-high 12 points, and Nola Smorowski and Taylor McKinley each added 5 points. For Darby, Sierra Reed had a game-high 14 points followed by Kylie Schlapman with 10 points.
The boys’ game followed and Darby won, 60-42. The Tigers controlled the first half behind a tenacious full court defense and led 29-13 at halftime. But Victor rallied in the third quarter, outscoring Darby 12-9. Victor got as close as 9 points, but everytime Victor made a push Darby had an answer and in the end the Tigers proved too much for the Pirates.
Darby had a well balanced attack. Hooper Reed scored 14 points, Cullen Duggan and Stevan Gabric each had 13, and Nolan Lenny added 8. For Victor, Jordan McLane led all scorers with 19 points, followed by Landon Nuttall with 15.
On Saturday, the Darby boys hosted No. 9 Drummond and won, 53-52, in an exciting game. A close game throughout, Darby trailed by 3 going into the 4th quarter. The pivotal play came with 35 seconds left in the game. Drummond had the ball and a 51-47 lead. Then Darby’s Hooper Reed blocked a Drummond layup and he passed it to Darby’s Cullen Duggan who raced the length of the court, made a layup, got fouled, and made the free throw; Darby then trailed 50-51. With 5 seconds left in the game, Drummond led 52-51 and was at the foul line with a one-and-one free throw opportunity. They missed the first one and Darby got the rebound and Drummond fouled Cullen Duggan, giving him a one-and-one with three seconds left. He made the first one, tying the game 52-52, then coolly hit the second one to give Darby the lead, 53-52. Drummond missed a three-pointer at the buzzer, sealing Darby’s victory. The win avenged Darby’s 14-point loss to Drummond in December and increased Darby’s win streak to 7 games.
The Darby girls played No. 8 Drummond on Saturday and lost, 27-59. Kylie Schlapman had 7 points and Makena Hawkinson had 5. The Victor girls played Seeley on Saturday and lost, 18-54. The Victor boys played Seeley on Saturday and lost, 28-45. Brandon Bowen had 15 points and Landon Nuttall added 10.