Charlo earns district title with big win over Drummond

The Charlo Lady Vikings captured the district title by beating undefeated Drummond Saturday night, 28-19, after Ma'Rya Hungerford hit a game-winning free throw with 4.9 seconds left in Friday night's game against Noxon to send the team to the championship.

If you asked any of the Lady Vikings what was on their mind over the past two weeks leading up to the district tourney, you often got a one-word response — Drummond. But despite the formation of the new District 13/14 C field, however, the Lady Trojans, who finished 18-0 on the regular season, were one of the few teams the Lady Vikings didn't get to face during the regular season.

After Saturday night's game, the Lady Trojans were probably just as happy that that was their only meeting because the Lady Vikes made them look, well, average.

The game started off slowly for both teams, as they had trouble scoring early on. Drummond took a 9-8 lead into the half, but after that, it was all Charlo.

Jessie Bucholz hit a two-pointer before draining a trey to make it 14-9 in the third, and then Hungerford had a steal and a lay-up to make it 16-9. Free throws by Amanda Murphy and Hayley Carr made it 18-9 before Carr banked a 3-pointer at the buzzer to make it 22-9 after three.

Drummond didn't score a field goal for almost 13 minutes into the second half, but by then it was too little, too late. Rhondell Esterby opened the fourth by driving the lane for a lay-up and then closed out the game with an easy bucket underneath the basket.

"It was not quite what I expected to happen," head coach Bret Thompson said of the fact that it a low-scoring game. "I think the lowest points Drummond scored was 40 during the regular season."

Bucholz had six points, Carr had seven, Stevie-Leigh Sammons had two, Esterby had four, Murphy had three, Hungerford had five and Samijo Kain added a free throw in the fourth.

It was the Charlo defense, though, that won it. Their man-to-man proved to be Drummond's undoing, holding them to just a dozen points total through most of the third quarter.

"In our pregame talk and walk-through, that was what we worked on," Thompson. "We had a game plan and stuck to it."

The Lady Vikings were district champs, but the real test was Friday night against Noxon. Charlo beat them 50-44 on Jan. 21 when the Lady Red Devils were only a half game back in the standings, and the stakes were even higher in Friday night's match-up.

Hungerford started off scoring four of the team's first six points, and then Esterby was fouled while shooting a bucket, and made the free throw, but the team was down 10-9 after the first. Bucholz drove the lane for two in the second, in what would be the team's only field goal in five minutes.

Later, Hungerford had a breakaway and then dish to Sammons for the bucket to give the team an 18-17 lead with 1:10 left in the half, and then Sammons was fouled with 2.5 seconds left in the half after tying it 19-19 with a bucket underneath.

Bucholz had the team's first four points in the third and six of nine in the quarter, and Charlo led 30-28 after three.

Kain opened the fourth with a 3-pointer, and then Sammons was fouled in a double bonus situation, tying the game at 36 from the charity stripe after Noxon came back.

With just over a minute left, Carr got her hands in and tied up the ball for a jump ball, turning it over to Charlo, and then Bucholz drove the lane and dished to Hungerford who was fouled on the shot.

She made one free throw to give the team a 37-36 lead, but Noxon made another shot to go up by one. Hungerford drove the lane on the next possession, was fouled, and missed both free throws, but grabbed her own rebound with 35 seconds left.

She again drove the lane and was fouled, but made one free throw to tie it, 38-38. Noxon had the ball with 20.5 seconds left, and then Kain got a huge steal for the team, was accidentally tripped by a Noxon player, and then called for traveling as a result, much to the Charlo fans' chagrin.

But Hungerford got the steal, drove the lane and was fouled with 4.9 seconds left. Her confidence was shaken, though, after having missed three of the last four free throws and four of the last six, and a Noxon player stood at the top of the key, four feet behind Hungerford, and taunted her at each free throw opportunity.

Hungerford stepped in, took a deep breath, and sank the first one for the 39-38 win.

"All I was thinking was 'don't miss,'" an emotional Hungerford said after the game. "Coach Thompson always says get up there [to the foul line] and don't think about your last shot, but when it's the game winner and you just missed the last three free throws …"

Noxon grabbed the rebound after the second shot, called time out to regroup, inbounded the ball and chucked it down court but the Lady Vikings had won.

Thompson said the team has to get its offensive rhythm back after the Drummond game if it's to have success at divisionals.

"Defensively, we did well, but offensively, both teams struggled. We're going to have to score some points going into divisionals," Thompson said.

With the No. 1 seed, the girls will play Harrison at 7 p.m. Thursday night after earning a bye in the first round. If they win, they will play at 5:30 on Friday.

Thompson said Harrison has a reputation for playing good defense, and has four seniors. Although they were a fourth-place finisher in their district, the team isn't taking anything for granted, Thompson said.

Charlo earns district title with big win over Drummond