Charlo girls go to 12-0 with wins over Mission, Noxon

Zach Urness

Leader Staff

A top team will beat good teams on the road and win ugly games, and the fourth-ranked Lady Vikings did both this past week, keeping their perfect season intact with a win at Mission last Thursday in a defensive slug-fest, and winning again at Noxon on Friday, Jan. 19.

“The girls are feeling a little beat up and sore after last week,” said head coach Bret Thompson. “But we had some huge wins.”

If you like ugly defensive battles, then Charlo’s knock-down, drag-em-out victory over the Mission Lady Bulldogs on Thursday would have been right up your alley. Neither team was able to reach double figures during a quarter the whole night, and at the end of the first quarter the score was 6-6.

Charlo continued to struggle on offense and trailed for most of the second quarter until freshman Stephanie Maughan dropped two 3-point baskets late in the second quarter to grab the lead at the half, 15-13.

The Lady Vikings turned up the intensity in the second half, playing a merciless and savage defense that held the Lady ‘Dogs to two points in the third quarter, as Charlo grabbed the lead, 22-15. The fourth quarter was the highest scoring of the night as each team had nine points, but the third quarter was the difference, and the Lady Vikes earned their 11th win by a final score of 31-24.

“It was a pretty sloppy game on offense from both sides,” commented Miller. “Mission ran a sort of slow down offense that spread us out and didn’t let us get many points on the inside. We didn’t shoot the ball very well either.”

Charlo got 11 points off the bench, scored mostly by Maughan, who led the team with eight points. Ma’Rya Hungerford led the starting group with seven points and Amanda Murphy added six points. Stevie-Leigh Sammons had four points, Stephanie Murphy added three points and Staci Stipe had one in the effort.

The Lady Vikings got off to a fast start against Noxon (10-2), one of the top teams in their conference, on Friday. Charlo completely dominated the first quarter on offense and defense en route to outscoring the Lady Red Devils, 16-2. Hungerford was on fire in the first, scoring all of her 10 points in the first frame.

The Lady Vikes kept the pressure on in the second quarter and took a 29-12 lead into half-time. Noxon made a run in the third quarter, tightening the game to 35-23, but that would be as close as they would get, as Charlo got back on track in the fourth, outscoring Noxon 17-9 to take home a important road win, 52-32.

Charlo is now responsible for the Lady Red Devils’ only two losses this season.

“We played great on offense and defense,” said Thompson. “We did a great job of scoring, especially in the first quarter, and we did a good job of limiting their good scorers by not letting them get any easy shots. It was a huge win for us.”

Hayley Carr and Stephanie Maughan led the team in scoring with 11 points each. Ma’Rya Hungerford added 10 points and Amanda Murphy followed her with six. Stephanie Murphy had four points, with Samijo Kain and Shianne Montgomery each scoring three.

One of the most surprising performances for the Lady Vikes last week came from freshmen Stephanie Maughan, who led the team in scoring against both Mission and Noxon.

“Steph {Maughan} has played a lot on the JV team so the other teams have gotten a chance to see her,” said Thompson. “But we got her into both games and she caught some of em’ sitting and watching and she just knocked down her shots.”

Charlo will put their perfect record on the line tonight (Thursday Jan. 25) against Valley Christian and will face Two Eagle on Saturday, Jan. 27, and both games are at home. Charlo was in action against Hot Springs on Tuesday, Jan. 23 as the Leader went to press.

“We’ll have some tough games this week,” said Thompson. “Both teams are capable of putting up some points.”