Mission girls drop pair of close games

Mission Lady Bulldog junior Sydney Brander (24) dribble drives toward the basket. (Photo courtesy of Christa Umphrey, Forward Photography)

by John Heglie Special For Leader
| January 9, 2020 12:36 PM

Mission Lady Bulldog junior Sydney Brander (24) dribble drives toward the basket. (Photo courtesy of Christa Umphrey, Forward Photography)

At St. Ignatius this past weekend, the host Lady Bulldogs played a pair of close contests.

Against the visiting Lady Savage Heat of Hot Springs, Mission trailed early, then was forced to play catchup. The Lady Bulldogs countered by outscoring Hot Springs in both frames of the second half, but ran out of time to close the gap further.

Mission’s Karolyna Buck and Olivia Garland both notched double digits, but needed input from others to offset the monster game by Katelyne Christensen.

Against the visiting Lady Lions of Eureka, the Lady Bulldogs got off to a better start, capturing the first frame and still maintaining the lead entering halftime. But the Lions would roar during the crucial third frame to claw out a double digit advantage. Azia Umphrey and Kooper Page accounted for all of Mission scoring the last quarter of action as both dialed the operator long distance and completed the call on pairs of triples as well as dealing a deuce apiece. But Eureka scored often enough to hold the Mission rally at bay.

The Lady Bulldogs will have already faced Loyola in Missoula, then travel to Thompson Falls for a conference clash with the Lady Bluehawks Thursday.

Eureka 53, Mission 45

Mission (1-2, 1-6), Eureka (1-1, 4-2)

Eureka 12 11 17 13 – 53

Mission 15 9 5 16 – 45

EUREKA – Megan Hanson 16, Maggie Graves 16, Michael Shea 6, Reena Truman 6, Avory Escobar 4, Katie Schmidt 3, Rhianna Hawkins 2.

MISSION ST. IGNATIUS – Azia Umphrey 4 2-5 12, Syd Brander 4 1-2 10, Courtney Mitchell 4 2-3 10, Kooper Page 3 0-0 8, Olivia Garland 2 1-2 5.

3FG – MSI 5-18(Umphrey 2, K.Page 2, S.Brander). (Sa04Jan20)

Hot Springs 54, Mission 50

Courtney Mitchell crested the century (100) point plateau for varsity career scoring.

7B Mission (1-5), 14C Hot Springs (6-0)

Hot Springs 16 17 10 11 – 54

Mission 10 9 11 20 – 50

HOT SPRINGS – Katelyne Christensen 25, McKenzie Cannon 7, Sydney Jackson 6, Sage Jackson 5, Lily Wynn 5,Brianna Gray 4, Lizzy Fisher 2.

MISSION ST. IGNATIUS – Karolyna Buck 2 7-10 11, Olivia Garland 5 0-0 10, Azia Umphrey 1 6-14 9, Sydney Brander 3 0-0 7, Kooper Page 1 2-2 5, Courtney Mitchell 2 1-4 5, Madyson Currie 3.

3FG – MSI 4 (Umphrey, S.Brander, Currie, Page). (Th02Jan20)