Thursday, January 09, 2025
28.0°F

Mission girls win district tourney, roll into divisionals

| February 22, 2007 12:00 AM

Zach Urness - Leader Staff

LIBBY — As Ashley Mitchell and Barb Pfeifer triumphantly raised the District championship plaque over their heads it became official: The Mission girls are the top ‘Dogs in the 8-B conference.

The Lady Bulldogs defended their regular season title with the district tournament title last weekend, beating Thompson Falls 39-27 in the deciding game for the second time in the last two weeks. Mission is heating up at the right time and will take an eight-game winning streak into the Western B divisional tournament.

“The girls are very excited,” said head coach Les Rice. “This was one of our goals. It wasn’t easy, but we got it done.”

Ashley Mitchell and Barb Pfeifer made sure that a packed gym of T-Falls supporters went home disappointed on Saturday night as the pair combined for 27 of the ‘Dogs’ 39 points. Mitchell got Mission off on the right foot, hitting two treys and scoring eight of her game-high 16 points in the first quarter.

Pfeifer picked up the slack in the middle quarters, exposing the soft spot in the T-Falls 2-3 zone along the baseline with short-range jump-shots. Jordan Adams hit a buzzer-beating jump shot to give Mission a 21-12 lead at half-time.

“Jordan Adams was huge for us,” commented Rice.

Mission kept the Bluehawks on their heels all night with a full-court zone press that T-Falls was never able to completely solve causing turnovers.

The game tightened up in the fourth quarter as T-Falls brought themselves to within five points with six minutes to play, but Mitchell stepped up, getting to the free-throw line and hitting 7-of-8 for the charity stripe in the fourth to hold off the Bluehawks and keep the victory intact. Mission shot 73 percent from the free-throw line, their best output of the season.

“We had our best game from the free-throw line,” said Rice.

Pfeifer finished the game with 11 points to follow Mitchell’s 16. Jordan Adams had six points in the game and Kelsey Cable, Lisa Larsson and Katie McDonald each added two. Mattea Grant didn’t score but was a steady hand at point guard.

The Lady Bulldogs also beat Arlee easily, 56-34 in the semi-final game on Thursday. The last time the two teams met, Mission needed a last second shot from Katie McDonald to steal a victory from Jordan Pfau and the Scarlets, 56-55. Mitchell made sure this game wouldn’t be nearly as close and hit four of Mission’s five three-pointers, helping the Lady ‘Dogs outscore Arlee 35-16 in the first and fourth quarters and earn a 56-34 point win.

The Lady ‘Dogs held Jordan Pfau, who tallied 34 points the last time the teams met, to only three points for the game.

“We did a great job of limiting their best players,” said Rice.

Mitchell had a game-high 23 points and Pfeifer added 10. Mattea Grant had eight points, Jordan Adams had six points, Kelsey Cable had four points and Kelly Wagner had five for the game.

Mission will take a number-one seed into divisionals and will play Seely-Swan in the first round on Thursday in Missoula.

“Everyone is chasing Loyola, and they’re the host team,” said Rice. “So everyone is kind of chasing second place. We’d like the chance to play them, but we have to win the first game, and that’s our focus.”