Lady Pirates top Ronan

The Lady Pirates beat the rival Maidens 47-38 in a game that stayed very close and was just as exciting until it ended.

Against Ronan, the Pirates got what head coach Randy Kelley called, “an ugly win.” The game wasn’t mistake free but the work was there and the team pulled out an exciting win just the same.

Not unlike the boy’s game, the Lady Pirates and the Maidens kept things close throughout the game.

At the end of the first half, Polson went into the break with the four-point lead. Ronan was keeping up. Although they had the lead, keeping junior Nicole Davey and sophomore Breanne Kelley on Ronan’s Carli Starkel wasn’t going to be enough, Randy said.

Polson came out of the locker room on a course to play better team defense as well.

“I thought we came out in the second half and played good defense and I think that was the difference in the game,” Randy said.

Ronan struck first in the second half, but senior Cali Hislop answered back for the Pirates right after. The game weaved back and forth this way through the third, a large part of the Polson’s end of the bargain carried out by Davey. If Ronan got a basket, Davey was there to make one for Polson on the other end. The score was 31-27 after three, still too close for comfort.

In the fourth, things really started to heat up, both in the hot and crowded stands of the Linderman Elementary gym and on the court.

Ronan struck first to narrow Polson’s lead to two. But Breanne was fouled right after, and had the chance to widen the gap at three. To the delight of Pirate fans and the disgust of Ronan supporters, Breanne drained one and then two, to regain the four-point lead.

Again Ronan finished, and again the Maidens sent a Lady Pirate to the line.

This time it was senior Rochelle Woods under pressure. Woods made one of two.

Woods couldn’t get both free throws but got the ball again on the outside after another Ronan score. She didn’t miss that one, re-energizing the lead and her team with under four minutes to go.

The score was 37-33.

Hislop then drove fearlessly under the basket going up hard like a good forward is supposed to, taking the foul and coming away with the basket. She missed at the line, but Polson had the six point lead.

From there, the Lady Pirates expanded on their lead when Ronan was forced to foul. They had pulled out the win and completed a sweep of the Ronan boys and girls basketball teams on the night.

Randy said his team missed some easy early shots and struggled at the line, but was happy to come away with win. He said the low shooting percentage is OK, as long as it continues to improve and peaks by divisionals.

Sophomore Kayla Duford said her team gave a good effort and the crowd made things more interesting.

“It’s fun,” Duford said. “It’s kind of intense with that many people. I was pretty pumped at the beginning.”

Sophomore Kodi Woods said the win was a little ugly, but a victory just the same.

“A win’s a win,” she said.

After the game, Ronan senior Jade Michel said her team played hard but struggled where it counted.

“I think we played hard but there were little mistakes that hurt us,” she said, citing the all too familiar matters of turnovers and free throws as culprits in the loss.

She also pointed to conditioning.

“We ran out of air at the end and kind of let down,” she said. “Polson ran hard until the end.”

The solution, she said, was getting in better shape so her team would have more to leave out on the court.

“We need to learn to give 110 percent all the way through the game,” Michel said.

Cheff said playing in the rivalry game is all that more important for the seniors.

“It was fun. It was the first time playing here now that we’re seniors (Cheff and Michel),” she said. “It’s a bummer we didn’t pull out a win. We’ll be ready next time they come to our gym.”

Playing a game to match all of the hype, senior Kaylee Larson led her team in scoring with 12. Cheff finished with eight, Strozzi had six, Michel had five and Starkel had four. Freshman Morgan Belgarde had two points and demonstrated a strong post presence on the court after being pulled up from JV.

Starkel and Larson each had ten rebounds in the game.

For Polson, Davey led in scoring with 10, Breanne had nine, senior Sarah Newton and Hislop each had six, and sophomore Sierra Pete, Woods, and junior Loni Havlovick each finished with four against Ronan.

Davey also led in rebounds with eight. Kelley had seven and Newton pulled down six.

The rivalry game brought a good crowd and some healthy competition, Ronan head coach Jami Schall said. Since they couldn’t pull out the first, Schall hopes to take the game when Polson comes to Ronan. She said her girls share this ambition.

“We’ll be ready. Hopefully the girls will get fired up,” Schall said. “I know they were disappointed in the loss and I can’t say I wasn’t disappointed also.”

Both teams lost the following night, Polson 55-40 to Columbia Falls and Ronan 49-23 to Libby.

Ronan hosts Columbia Falls at 7:30 p.m. on Friday and plays at 6 p.m. on Saturday at Bigfork.

Polson hosts Eureka at 6 p.m. on Friday and plays at Libby at 6 p.m. on Saturday.