Lady Pirates improve but can't top Hamilton

POLSON — The Lady Pirates’ rough start to the season continues, as Polson dropped its third-straight game on Saturday with a 56-38 loss to Hamilton.

POLSON — The Lady Pirates’ rough start to the season continues, as Polson dropped its third-straight game on Saturday with a 56-38 loss to Hamilton.

Polson was still very much in the game headed into the half, down just 24-18 at the break.

However, the Lady Broncs came out in the third quarter firing on all cylinders, racking up 24 points in the process. Taylor Goligoski would score 14 of those points on her way to a 32-point outing, accounting for over half of her team’s points.

The Lady Pirates manageable deficit quickly eroded as they would put up just six points in the third period.

Though Polson would outscore Hamilton 14-8 in the final quarter, it was not enough to overcome the Lady Broncs’ third-quarter scoring barrage.

The good news for the Lady Pirates is that, though they lost, the young team continues to show improvement, which is exactly what head coach Randy Kelley wants to see from his team at this point.

“Our goal is to improve every game,” Kelley said. “I thought we improved in some areas of the game. I thought we rebounded well.”

With that said, Kelley admits that there is still much more work to be done, especially on offense.

“We just have to do a better job of putting the ball in the hole,” Kelley said. “I thought we had a lot of opportunities, especially in first half, but we just missed a lot of opportunities.”

Polson made just 23 percent of its shots against Hamilton, a number Kelley expects to be much higher after keying heavily on the problem at this week’s practices.

“Our focus is just going to be putting the ball in the hole from about 5 feet,” Kelley said. “We want to be above 33 percent [shooting] each game, so we’re going to be doing a lot of shooting drills.” 

So far, Kelley said he has seen improvement in this area, which has him hoping his team will be able to “pick up” its defense before the next game as well.

Heidi Rausch was the only player to really get things going offensively on Saturday, leading the team with 13 points.

“We expect her to be in that double-figure range, around 15 points,” Kelley said. “She’s our team leader, and we’re going to build around her and everything we do is basically going to go through her.”

Rausch would also finish the night with a double-double, after grabbing 12 rebounds in the game.

Anna DiGiallonardo also put together a solid all-around performance, posting seven points, nine rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Malia Hamel ended with six points, Monika Frame added five and the team’s only block of the night, Hallie Hovenkotter chipped in four and eight rebounds, and Mackenzie Banner finished with three points and five rebounds.

Fans can expect to see more of Frame from here on out, according to Kelley, as she has continued to impress her coach with her improvement.

“She’s been playing a little JV, but she’s definitely going to get herself more playing time at the varsity level,” Kelley said. “I thought she played well against Anaconda and she gave us some good minutes [against Hamilton] also.”

The Lady Pirates hope to continue to see improvement when they square off with Frenchtown on the road Dec. 20.

“We’ve just got into the mindset that we’ve got to go in and win every battle,” Kelley said.

BOYS

HAMILTON — Though it turned out to be a low-scoring affair, the Pirates earned their second win of the season after a close 41-34 game with Hamilton on Saturday.

Outside of a 12-6 first quarter in favor of Polson, the two teams scored within just one point of each other in every quarter.

Cedrick Smith scored seven points in that crucial first quarter of play en route to leading all players with 13 points on the night.

Riley Sampson, meanwhile, made his return to the lineup after a football injury sidelined him for the first two contests.

It didn’t take long for him to make an impact, however, as he racked up 11 points in his first game back.

Hayden Congdon (five) Will Davey (four), Cedric Earthboy (three), Dylan Kelley (three) and Derek Peel (two) also earned points for the Pirates.

The Broncs were led by Rees Isherwood and Jesse Bartels, who turned in 10 points apiece for Hamilton.

Polson will be hoping to stay on the winning track when they host Frenchtown on Dec. 20 in the Pirates’ first conference game of the season.