Charlo uses defense to beat Arlee, St. Ignatius

Zach Urness / Leader Staff

New season, same result.

Last year's runner-up at state got back to business last week, beating Arlee and Mission by playing a hard-nosed brand of defense that would make a black hole look downright friendly.

Despite losing four starters from last year's team the Lady Vikings served notice that they are nowhere near ready to relinquish their title as tops in local Class C action, routing the upstart Arlee Scarlets Friday, 55-32, and beating Class B St. Ignatius, last season's conference champion, 26-17 on Monday.

Charlo will travel to Noxon this Saturday to play the Lady Red Devils.

Charlo 26, St. Ignatius 17

The Lady Vikings didn't let the Lady Bulldogs into double-digits scoring until the 1:45 mark of the third quarter and used their defense to help build a 17-12 lead heading into the fourth quarter and seal a 26-17 victory.

The game tightened up at half-time when Mission's Rachel Jensen scored to cut Charlo's lead to one point, 9-8. But consecutive scores to start the third quarter capped by a pull up jump-shot from Stephanie Murphy, who led all scorers with 11 points, gave Charlo a 17-8 lead they would not relinquish.

The third quarter flurry of baskets kept the nearly capacity crowd at the St. Ignatius Dog Pound quiet for much of the second half.

Montgomery had nine points in the game and Stephanie Maughan added four while Samijo Kain, who ran the point for Charlo much of the game, added two.

Charlo 55, Arlee 32

The Arlee Scarlets learned early what it means to face a Lady Viking defense. The Lady Vikings held Arlee scoreless until the 5:55 mark in the second quarter and built a 26-11 at half-time that the Scarlets would be unable to overcome. Charlo played vintage in-your-face defense that caused havoc and forced the Scarlets into turnovers early that the Lady Vikings took advantage of to the tune of an 11-0 first quarter lead.

Stephanie Murphy scored a game-high 18 points for Charlo, leading a group that includes Stephanie Maughan, Shianne Montgomery, Staci Stipe and Samijo Kain who combined for 31 points on Friday and will power the Lady Viking attack this season.

The Scarlets, who showed some butterflies in their first Class C games after moving down from Class B, calmed down in second half led by Jordan Pfau's 14 points. Arlee employed a full court press and a few zone defenses in the second half that forced some turnovers and helped close the lead to 34-20 in the third quarter. But every time Arlee seemed to gain some momentum Charlo had an answer, and in the third quarter the Lady Vikings responded to the Scarlet charge with a jump-shot from Murphy and a buzzer-beating shot from Stipe to push the lead back to 20 points. Stipe hit a trey to start the fourth quarter as well and Charlo was able to play some of their bench players in the final two minutes.