Charlo girls hang on for win, begin state tourney today
Zach Urness
Leader Staff
Midway through the third quarter of Monday’s win-or-go-home challenge game, things were not looking good for the Lady Vikings. After losing their first game of the season in Saturday’s divisional championship, the Charlo girls found themselves down 20-14 against an upset-happy Drummond team and in real danger of watching their amazing season fall by the wayside.
“I wasn’t very happy with how we played in the first half,” said head coach Bret Thompson. “We were certainly struggling.”
But like a cool spring breeze rolling down the mountain, Samijo Kain stepped in off the bench and hit two huge 3-pointers to breathe new life into Charlo and spur a 11-0 run that would ultimately give the Lady Vikings a 34-26 win and land them in the state tournament for the second year in a row.
“I was just so pumped,” said Kain of her second 3-pointer. “I ran down the court and was just like ‘Yeah, we’re coming back and we’re going to win!’”
The big win gave the Lady Vikes a second place finish at divisionals and a berth to state with the West’s No. 2 seed. They will face sixth-ranked Scobey at the Butte Civic Center 12:30 today (Thursday).
Charlo cruised through the first two rounds at divisionals.
In Thursday’s first-round game Charlo outscored Gardiner 25-10 in the second half en route to a 48-25 victory. Samijo Kain led the team with 12 points and was followed by Amanda Murphy who had 11. Hayley Carr had eight points, Stevie-Leigh Sammons had seven points and Ma’Rya Hungerford and Shianne Montgomery added four.
Ma’Rya Hungerford went 4-of-7 from beyond the arc against Noxon on Friday and finished with a season-high 22 points, helping Charlo to a 33-24 win and landing them in the championship game. The Lady Vikes used their trademark defense to force Noxon into 20 turnovers, and collect 14 steals.
Hayley Carr and Amanda Murphy rounded out the scoring with four points each. Stevie-Leigh Sammons added two.
“I thought we played pretty good defense,” said Thompson. “We struggled a bit on offense and with consistency, and that caught up with us on Saturday.”
Charlo ran into a familiar opponent — Twin Bridges — in Saturday’s championship game, a team they beat to claim last year’s Western B divisional crown. Something had to give as both team brought perfect 23-0 records into the game.
Things didn’t go as planned for the Lady Vikes, however, and after a tough second quarter in which they were outscored 17-9, Charlo suffered their first loss of the season, 39-27.
“It was not one of our typical games as far as controlling the ball,” commented Thompson. “We had our chances, but we had to play from behind the whole game.”
Amanda Murphy led the team with eight points and Hayley Carr had seven. Stevie-Leigh Sammons had five points, Samijo Kain had two points and Stephanie Maughan also had two.
The loss opened Charlo up to a challenge game, and, after Drummond won in the consolation championship game, the stage was set for a one game playoff that would send the winner to the state tournament. Charlo had beaten Drummond 36-15 in the district title game the previous week.
With the stands packed with fans from both teams and a intense atmosphere, both teams came out tight and after managing only three points in the second quarter, Charlo went into the half down 15-11. The third quarter was the turning point, and with a 29-22 lead, Charlo slowed the game down and forced Drummond to foul.
Amanda Murphy, Ma’Rya Hungerford and Samijo Kain stepped up, going 6-of-6 from the free-throw line to ice the game and send Drummond packing.
“I feels really good,” said senior Stevie-Leigh Sammons. “It shouldn’t have been that close, but they played really well.”
Samijo Kain and Amanda Murphy both had eight points and Hayley Carr followed with six. Ma’Rya Hungerford had five points and Shianne Montgomery had four. Stephanie Maughan added three for the game.
When asked what he thought of his team’s chances at state, the 21-year head coach was pragmatic.
“We’re one of eight teams and have as much of a chance as anyone. We’ve got to take care of Thursday afternoon, so that’s what we’ll be talking about the next few days,” Thompson said.