by Scott Sacry
Corvallis
On Tuesday, Jan 16th, the Corvallis girls hosted Butte Central. The game was close throughout and the Lady Blue Devils held a 18-12 halftime lead. They held onto their lead in the 2nd half and won 43-38. Corvallis’ Brecklyn Jessop led the scoring with 14 points, Ericka Jessop had 11, Ava Loran had 10, Ella Varner had 8, Autumn Benson had 3, and Jayde Venema added 2.
The Corvallis girls then played at #3 Frenchtown on Sat. Jan 20th and lost 23-55 to the high powered Lady Broncs. For Corvallis, Ava Loran led the scoring with 12 points, Ella Varner had 6, and Ericka Jessop added 5.
On Tuesday, Jan 16th, the Corvallis boys went to Butte Central to take on the 406mtsports.com #2 ranked Maroons. Corvallis held their own early in the game and trailed 28-31 at halftime. But after the break they were outscored 15-34 and lost 43-65.
On Saturday, the Corvallis boys hosted Frenchtown in a wild game. Frenchtown controlled the game for the first three quarters and Corvallis trailed 23-36 heading into the 4th.
Then the Blue Devils came roaring back. They started the 4th quarter on a 12-3 run to get back in the game. Then with 1:05 left, Corvallis tied the game 45-45 with a layup by Camron Dela Rosa. Corvallis had a shot to win the game with three seconds left but missed, and the game went to overtime.
Corvallis dominated overtime and looked poised to win. They were up 53-50 with seven seconds left after Corvallis’ Dillen Potter hit two free throws. A Frenchtown player was fouled, and he made one free throw and intentionally missed the second – Corvallis got the rebound and Corvallis’ Bennett Boelman was fouled. He hit his first free throw to make it 54-51. He missed the second and on the rebound a Frenchtown player was fouled, giving him two free throws with 3 seconds left. He made the first and intentionally missed the second, Frenchtown miraculously got the offensive rebound and made a put back shot and got fouled with 0.7 seconds left. The game was now tied and Frenchtown had a free throw to win. They missed the free throw, sending it to a second overtime with the score tied 54-54.
In the second overtime Corvallis ran out of steam and fell behind and couldn’t make it back, eventually losing 61-68. For Corvallis, Dillen Potter led the scoring with 18 points, Derek Criddle had 12, Cameron Whiteley had 11, Bennett Boelman had 7, Ryan Hutchison had 5, Ledge Conner and Aydan Mayn each had 3, and Camron Delarosa added 2.
Victor
The Victor girls hosted Two Eagle River on Tuesday, Jan. 16th and jumped out to a 25-17 halftime lead. They kept the pressure on in the 2nd half and won 44-33.
Then on Thursday, Jan. 8th, they went to Valley Christian and lost 16-36. For Victor, Cyrrie Ames led with 8 points, Whitney Bugli and Chloe Pollan each had 2, and Sadie Allred and Tia Allred each added 1.
On Thursday, Jan. 8th, the Victor boys went to Valley Christian and lost 31-68. Josiah Berk led Victor with 8.
On Saturday, Jan. 20th, they went to Drummond and lost 30-69. For Victor, Jace Martin led the way with 12 points, Alec Rowlan had 6, Russell Drewien and Josiah Berk each had 5, and Henrique Nunes added 2.
Florence & Darby
The boys and girls basketball teams from Florence and Darby squared off in Darby on Jan.19th. This is Darby’s first year in Class B, so this was a conference game for both teams.
In the girls game, the Lady Falcons dominated throughout. They led 24-10 at halftime en route to a convincing 54-22 victory.
For Florence, Kendyl Meinhold had a big game with 15 points, Kenzy Pickering had 11, Emory Ralston had 10, Madigan Hurlburt had 6, Taylor Pyette had 4, Lexi Danczyk and Olivia Coulter had 3, and Maggie Schneiter added 2.
For Darby, Hadley Heiland led in scoring with 13 points, Kimmie Berry had 4, Natalie Anderson and Sierra Reed had 2, Ella Bush added 1.
In the boys game, Florence led 31-25 in a close first half, but the Falcons dominated after halftime, outscoring the Tigers 39-10 in the 2nd half to earn the 70-35 victory.
For Florence, Trapper Oster led in scoring with 18 points, Tyler Abbott had 12, Quintan Monaco and Brody Duchien each had 10, Jake Schneiter and Bridger Alexander each had 6, and Arlington Mason, Levi Winters and Mose Smith each added 2.
For Darby, Jordan Browning had a big game with 21 points, McCoy Townsend had 8, and Payton Ehmann, Oliver Long and Ben Martin each added 2. The Darby boys played at Arlee on Saturday and lost 25-70 to the #7 Warriors.
On Saturday, the Darby girls went to Arlee and defeated the Scarlets 42-24. The Lady Tigers jumped out early, leading 13-2 after one quarter and 23-10 at halftime. For Darby, Georgia Fisher led the scoring with 13 points, Hadley Heiland had 10, Sierra Reed had 9, Kimmie Berry had 5, Natalie Anderson had 3, and Nyna Reason added 2.
The Florence basketball teams faced basketball juggernaut Missoula Loyola on Saturday, Jan. 20th.
In the boys game, Florence was undone by slow first and third quarters and lost 63-85 to the undefeated and #1 ranked Rams. In the second and fourth quarters the Falcons outscored Loyola 44-37, but were outscored 48-19 in the first and third.
In the girls game, Florence lost 36-68. The Lady Falcons stuck with the #6 ranked Breakers in the first and fourth quarters, but were out scored 10-41 in the middle two quarters.
For Florence, Kenzy Pickering and Olivia Coulter led the scoring with 8 points each, Maggie Schneiter had 7, Taylor Pyette had 6, Emory Ralston and Kendyl Meinhold each added 5.