Ronan BB Recap: Sweeping Troy

Here's a run down of what happen to Ronan teams this week.

CHIEFS IMPROVE TO 3-4

DEER LODGE - The Ronan Chiefs may have split two games this past week, but the way they see it, they gained much more than they lost, despite suffering a heartbreaker on Thursday.

Down 22 at one point, Deer Lodge battled back at home and slipped by Ronan 61-57 on Jan. 5.

"I'm a believer that you can learn more from a loss than a win, not that we want to lose," head coach Steve Woll said.

The Chiefs blitzed the Wardens early, leading 32-14 at halftime, thanks to a 20-5 scoring edge in the second quarter.

Deer Lodge chipped away, outscoring Ronan 22-10 in the third quarter to get within single digits and put up another 25 points in the fourth to get the victory.

"We're still a work in progress," Woll said. "We don't have a lot of varsity experience and we're only a third of the way into the season."

Brady Oakland and Robbie "Le Bourreau" Gauthier led the team with 14 points each, while Carston Baertsch also reached double figures with 12. The Chiefs got contributions from Marcus Hungerford (eight points), Marley Tanner (seven) and Robert Faoa (three) in the defeat.

Two nights later, Ronan took its frustrations out on Troy, where they bounced back from their tough loss to knock off the Trojans 51-37.

"The Deer Lodge game was disheartening; it was an emotional loss," Woll said. "We knew how important it was to play well at Troy and the kids made a conscious effort to pick each other up. We mixed it up a bit and the bench played well."

Led by Oakland's 13 and Hungerford's 10, eight players in all scored for the Chiefs, who got help up and down the roster in the victory.

"That's the only way we can win," Woll said. "We don't have a big-time scorer or go-to-guy. We depend on teamwork and great team defense. That's our identity. We're better than we were a week ago."

Tied at seven after the first quarter, Ronan slowly pulled away.

The Chiefs outscored the Trojans 18-12 in the second and 16-11 in the third to build an 11-point lead. In the fourth, Ronan displayed good mental toughness, not letting Troy dictate the game, and left with the victory, improving to 3 4 on the season.

Tanner scored seven points against Troy, Faoa six, Baertsch and Edmond Dupuis five each, Gauthier three and Zach Wagner two in the win.

On deck for the Chiefs is a trip to St. Ignatius on Thursday, Jan. 12 to face the Mission Bulldogs in a big Class B matchup before entertaining Plains on Friday.

"We have to go to the Doghouse, which will be emotional," Woll said. "It's a big-time conference game. They have a conference win, Deer Lodge has one, but we don't. We need to move up the ladder."

CLAIRMONT SCORES 23 POINTS

TROY - Earlier in the season, it was Courtney Clairmont who, with 17 points, recorded the most points in one game for Ronan's girls basketball team in two years.

As part of a big weekend, Raymi Clairmont one-upped that.

In the second game of the weekend for the Maidens, Raymi dropped 23 points on Troy to help lead her team to a 40-36 road victory on Saturday, Jan. 7.

"She's starting to find her touch, is shooting the ball better and was able to rebound," head coach Clayton Curley said.

The 23 points were the highest output for a Maiden since the 2008-09 season, when Morgan Belgarde notched 24 and Carli Starkel 26 for Ronan.

Ashley Grandchamp scored seven points for the Maidens, while Courtney Clairmont and Ashleigh Lynch, with four apiece and Alaina Madsen, with two, helped contribute to Ronan's third victory of the year.

The Maidens led 13-8 after one period, but Troy chipped away, cutting the deficit to one (22-21) by halftime before taking a 29-28 lead heading to the final stanza.

Ronan held strong, however, and outscored Troy in the fourth quarter 12-7 to earn the victory.

"We talked about mental toughness and trying to get as many possessions as possible," Curley said. "Troy wanted to slow the game down. Our girls stepped up, played good defense and got rebounds."

On Tuesday, Jan. 3, the Maidens returned from winter break with a tough 59-26 loss on the road at Deer Lodge. Ronan played strong early against the Lady Wardens, trailing 11-6 after the first and 24-11 at halftime, but a big third quarter for Deer Lodge doubled the lead to 45-19, which was too much for the Maidens to overcome.

"We played well against Deer Lodge in the first half, but we turned the ball over too much," Curley said.

Raymi led the Maidens in scoring in that contest as well with 11 points, while Grandchamp added six and Lynch four. Courtney Clairmont and Kianna Howell each contributed two and Courtney Taylor one to complete the scoring.

At 3-4, Ronan is off to a much better start than last season and is looking forward to more as the season goes on.

"We want to keep improving every game and we're doing it," Curley said. "We want to play our best basketball come districts and divisionals."

The Maidens hosted Lake County rival Mission on Tuesday, but results were unavailable at press time. Ronan will also head on the road to Plains on Friday night as they look to move past .500 on the season.

R. BOYS @ TROY

Ronan - 7 - 18 - 16 - 10 - 51

Troy - 7 - 12 - 11 - 7 - 37

Chiefs scoring - Carston Baertsch 5, Robbie Gauthier 3, Edmond Dupuis 5, Marcus Hungerford 10, Robert Faoa 6, Zach Wagner 2, Marley Tanner 7, Brady Oakland 13

R. GIRLS @ TROY

Ronan - 13 - 9 - 6 - 12 - 40

Troy - 8 -13 - 8 - 7 - 36

Maidens scoring - Raymi Clairmont 23, Courtney Clairmont 4, Alaina Madsen 2, Ashleigh Lynch 4, Ashley Grandchamp 7

R. BOYS @ D-LODGE

Ronan - 12 - 20 - 10 - 15 - 57

D-Lodge - 9 - 5 - 22 - 25 - 61

Chiefs scoring - Carston Baertsch 12, Robbie Gauthier 14, Marcus Hungerford 8, Robert Faoa 3, Marley Tanner 7, Brady Oakland 14

R. GIRLS @ D-LODGE

Ronan - 6 - 5 - 8 - 7 - 26

D-Lodge - 11 - 13 - 21 - 14 - 59

Maidens scoring - Raymi Clairmont 11, Ashleigh Lynch 4, Ashley Grandchamp 6, Courtney Taylor 1, Kianna Howell 2, Courtney Clairmont 2