Charlo girls headed to Butte as second seedd

RONAN — The Charlo girls took their third shot at  Hot Springs’ basketball club on Friday, this time in the District 14-C championship. The third time wasn’t the charm for Charlo, but the girls took second and will be competing in the Divisional tourney next week.

Losing 41-32 to the Savage Heat hurt, Charlo’s leading scorer, junior Stephanie Murphy said.

“We’re a good team but we just couldn’t finish it,” she said. “It was tough.”

Hot Springs won by nine, but it took a game-long effort. At the end of the first half, Charlo was down only two.

In the first half, Charlo wasn’t producing a ton of points, but enough to get by.

After the break, the Vikings forced the issue, but were countered by a Hot Springs defense that adjusted to take away the easy baskets.

Tougher shots meant more missed shots for the Vikings.

“Percentage-wise we didn’t shoot well,” Charlo head coach Bret Thompson said.

The beginning of the fourth quarter was met by the roar of competing “Here we go…” chants from the Charlo and Hot Springs bleachers  – with the Vikings down just five, there was plenty of energy in the air and on the court. The supporters and athletes from each side knew there was a win to take.

Hot Springs scored seven unanswered off the bat and Thompson called for a time-out to slow things down.

Another Hot Springs basket and Charlo took another break to regroup.

With 4:45 remaining, the Vikings were ready to leave it all on the floor.

Charlo senior Shianne Montgomery stole the ball, drew the foul and went to the line. She made both of her free throw.

A Hot Springs free throw later and Murphy got herself to the line. She burried one of those, then it was junior Jaris Kelley’s turn to take desperate action.

Plunging forward to intercept a Hot Springs pass, Kelley made an off-balance pass, got it back and put it up. The shot didn’t fall, maybe the play that characterized the loss for Charlo – there were a lot of big plays at the right moments that did everything but change the score.

Freshman Kinley Pope had a “senior moment” at that point, giving her team what it took to keep hope alive and the game within reach. She was fouled and made her first attempt only to get her own rebound and take another foul. This time she made both to bring her team back within nine.

After that the scoring see-sawed back and forth until Hot Springs plopped out the winner.

Murphy led with 13 points and 12 rebounds, Pope scored seven, Kelley had six, Montgomery had five, and freshman Dawn Blevins scored one in the loss.

In the semifinal game the night before, Charlo took out Noxon 51-15. Maybe not the best warmup for a championship game against Hot Springs, Charlo was even able to shut Noxon out in the second half.

Thompson was able to put in his JV girls to save his varsity athletes for the final.

Defensively, Thompson said his subs played very well.

Montgomery led with 17 points, Kelley had nine and Pope scored eight.

After the semifinal, Montgomery said she wouldn’t soon forget scoring 17 points, three of them treys.

“It feels really good,” she said. “I think that’s my highest ever.”

But she also kept her eyes on the prize that would ultimately escape Charlo.

“Me and Jaris were kind of on fire tonight,” Montgomery said, “So hopefully it goes on to tomorrow.”

Both girls had strong games but not strong enough. Now the question is whether the team can rebound from the loss at divisionals.

Thompson said the loss could push the team in the right direction.

“I hope it’s the motivation to get us going for the next week. That’s the reason why they take two teams for divisionals – to give us a second chance. I’m hoping this is our second chance,” Thompson said.

Charlo plays Twin Bridges at 4 p.m. today at the Western C Girls Basketball Tournament in Butte.