Young Maidens find way to bounce back

HAMILTON - When Ronan head coach Doug Fisher looked out on the

court at his team last weekend, sometimes he'd see as many as five

sophomores playing at a time.

HAMILTON - When Ronan head coach Doug Fisher looked out on the court at his team last weekend, sometimes he'd see as many as five sophomores playing at a time.

"We're progressing pretty well, we're a pretty young team," Fisher said. "We're young and we're small and I like what our girls did."

In their first game of the tip-off tournament in Hamilton and Corvallis on Friday, the Maidens found themselves matched up against a very solid, senior-laden Anaconda team that have had plenty of success in the postseason.

"They've been in the hunt for five years," Fisher said. "We kind of got caught with a deer in the headlights look."

Ronan fell behind 18-3 in the first quarter and ended up losing 66-16.

However there were some bright spots in senior Tailyr Irvine.

"I really like what Tailyr did for us," Fisher said. "She did some good stuff."

Irvine had six points and seven rebounds for the Maidens in the game.

"We got outrebounded," Fisher said. "We have to go to the boards."

However, in a sign of great character, Ronan dusted themselves off from the first match up.

"They took their lumps and I was really impressed with how they responded Saturday night," Fisher said.

In their second game of the tournament on Saturday, Ronan was matched up against Corvallis and this time, the Maidens were able to shed off those first-game nerves.

"In the second game, we were ready," Fisher said. "Our girl came out scrappy and played hard."

Ronan battled back from a 28-13 deficit at halftime and outscored Corvallis 21-15 in the second half.

The Maidens still fell 43-34, but it was a nice bounce back from the first game.

Sophomore Courtney Clairmont paced Ronan's attack with 10 points.

"She had a whale of a game against Corvallis," Fisher said.

Sophomore Ashleigh Lynch was cleared to play after a meniscus tear injury just a few days before the tournament.

Despite that, she scored five points against Corvallis.

"She was lights out for us," Fisher said. "She played her tail off. Definitely when she was on the floor we were a better team."

Ronan will now get ready for a road game in Hamilton on Friday. Then they will have a home game against Mission on Saturday and a trip to Frenchtown on Tuesday.

Friday's game

Ronan - 3 - 5 - 6 - 2 - 16

Anaconda - 18 - 21 - 17 - 10 - 66

Maidens scoring - Tailyr Irvine 6, Mariah Cheff 3, Courtney Clairmont 3, Ashley Grandchamp 2, Justice Burland 2

Saturday's game

Ronan - 6 - 7 - 8 - 13 - 34

Corvallis - 15 - 13 - 5 - 10 - 43

Maidens scoring - Courtney Clairmont 10, Tailyr Irvine 6, Mariah Cheff 6, Ashleigh Lynch 5, Ashley Grandchamp 5, Justice Burland 2