County rivals clash in basketball
By John Heglie
Special for the Leader
Mission Valley roundball enthusiasts are in for a double treat this week with Ronan hosting a pair of roundball rivalry doubleheaders at the Ronan Events Center. On Thursday, Feb. 12, both Polson girls as well as boys basketball teams will tangle with their Ronan counterparts in a redux round of an earlier encounter that took place in Polson at the beginning of January. Then on not-so-lucky Friday the 13th, both Ronan teams will host Mission St. Ignatius in another doubleheader that will coincide with Senior Night for the Maidens as well as Chiefs.
Friday night’s basketball doubleheader between Ronan and Polson carries some significance that merits a measure of commemoration. It will be the last regular season basketball encounter with conference standing implications between two Mission Valley rival teams, at least for the next few years until enrollment numbers at Ronan can return them to the fold of the Northwestern Class A ranks.
Whenever Polson comes to play their country rival in Ronan, it is often advisable to tread with trepidation. Emblazoned into the floor and stenciled onto a banner suspended from a rail of the track is a greeting of hospitality that carries a double entendre: Welcome to “R” House.
The welcome portion of the greeting is straightforward enough, but there is no red carpet that is going to be rolled out to walk on like the feet of celebrities might be treated to when they attend an event like the Academy Awards. Local residents in attendance will likely not wear visiting team colors in an effort to make the visitor feel more at home. Rather, their attire tends to be of an orange and black variety. The orange may be a color that conveys warmth, but it is tempered with a proportion of black, a color associated more often than not with the ominous and foreboding.
The subsequent portion of the greeting with its mention of a house can easily conjure up feelings of home, hospitality and security. But a purple and gold visitor shouldn’t get too comfortable without taking into account the qualifing term denoting who this house belongs to. This is “R” House. The lattitude a visiting team might be accorded on their home court doesn’t necessarily apply here. Visiting players are liable to encounter little relief like that advertised in a Rolaids antacid commercial when it comes to defining the “R” of this letter. The guidelines under which this house is governed are Ronan rules. The team defending its home court expects that it will be accorded a certain amount of respect. The Chiefs and Maidens are intent upon giving the visitor a game by which they will be remembered. They want you to recall your visit to “R” House.
When county rival Polson comes to town, their “Welcome to R House” often means their visitor would be advised to watch their step. It they should stumble, they are liable to fall. For encroaching swashbucklers, “R” House seems to take on some added dimensions. They will face numerous challenges when it comes to navigating under this roof of reckoning. When attempting to avenge an earlier loss, R House can revert into a residence of reciprocity, an rendezvous prone with repercussions. When it comes to this particular rivalry, the best antidote for a visiting Pirate is to put forth a persuasive arrgh-ument on the court that will rock their rivals. “Welcome to R House.”
Polson Lady Pirates at Ronan Maidens
The last time the Maidens and Lady Pirates met earlier in Polson, Ronan won by the score of 49-32. The game was played evenly through the opening periods with each team scoring seven points each both quarters. After intermission, Maiden point productivity escalated while Lady Pirate proficiency languished which was instrumental in shaping the outcome. Both teams put up double figures in the final quarter.
Each club is far more seasoned at this juncture of the schedule. The last time they met, the Maidens had a trio of players who were averaging in double figures: freshman guard Micalann McCrea, senior post Aspen Jore and sophomore guard Lee Camel. McCrea and Jore have tapered off some as the remainder of the team has picked up a greater share of the scoring load. To this entourage can now be added a fourth Maiden in 14C all-conference 1st-team Arlee transfer sophomore post Alicia Camel, who has been averaging in double figures the past half dozen games.
As if a quartet with scoring punch wasn’t enough, the Maidens have also had both junior guard Jordyn Clairmont and senior post Haley O’Hern net double figures in games this season. Senior guard Kendra Starkel is double-digit capable on any given night, but rather relishes leading the team in assists with over fifty on the season by dishing crisp passes to awaiting teammates as well as takes pride in being a defensive nemesis that picks the pockets of opponents. Jore is the most proficient rebounder for the Maidens, having crested the century plateau already as well as has a trio of double-doubles on her resume. O’Hern and Starkel are also knocking at the door of the century mark when it comes to crashing the boards.
On the Polson side of the ledger, junior post Nicole Lake leads the Lady Pirates in multiple categories, having tallied more than a century worth in points as well as boards and is the second-leading free-throw shooter on the team. Lake has turned in a trio of double-doubles thus far this season.
Fellow junior post Erin Sampson has been improving by leaps and bounds as the season has progressed. Sampson is now the leading free-throw shooter on the team as well as their second-leading rebounder, having reeled in double-digit boards on two occasions and is within range of cresting the century plateau in that category before the season comes to a close.
Junior guard Marlee Congdon is tantamount to a telephone technician for the team, dialing the operator long distance and completing the call from beyond the arc multiple times in several games. Congdon has the highest conversion rate for triples in the Northwestern A conference.
Senior guard Skyla Krantz and sophomore guard Lauren Lefthand lead the team in assists as well as steals. Sophomore wing MaKenna Weltz leads the team in blocked shots, while junior wing Brenna Clarke has been contributing to ball handling duties. Both Clarke as well as Weltz are capable of finding the net from beyond the arc, giving the Pirates a handful of long distance deep threats. Lady Pirate senior captains Dylan Quinn, Peyton Anderson as well as Krantz have collaborated on contribution more than a century of points along with dozens of steals as well as assists.
Entering this redux rendition round of the rez roundball rivalry wrangle, Ronan (12-4) looks to be the stronger club on paper to Polson (2-12), although rivalry games tend to level the playing field irrespective of which team might be perched higher in the pecking order. In looking at opponents in common, both teams have played Hamilton, Corvallis and Eureka. Both lost to the State A runnerup Lady Broncs, Ronan tallying 41 points and Polson posting 44. Ronan recently beat Class A Corvallis handily, while Polson lost their encounter in the final minutes of a game they had several chances of winning. Most recently, both clubs have faced the Eureka Lady Lions, the Lady Pirates winning their encounter while the Maidens lost their skirmish by the margin of a single basket.
Like many basketball games, the outcome will likely hinge upon who is making their shots and who is not. The Maidens have been far more consistent this season, but Polson has also shown inklings of point productive periods with a 22 point quarter against Bigfork earlier in the schedule and most recently an 18 point quarter in a losing effort to Frenchtown. If the Lady Pirates can string enough of those together and play like they did against Whitefish this season, they will be in this contest. But if they should succumb to a bout of scoring anemia, the Maidens are unlikely to feel inclined to wait around for them to recalibrate. Not when this roundball rivalry wrangle is being held at R House.
Polson Pirates at Ronan Chiefs, 7:30pm
The last time these two rez rivals wrangled, the game extended into overtime with last second heroics by Cedric Earthboy factoring large in shaping the outcome. Earthboy converted a layup with about five seconds remaining to send the contest into the extra period, then hit a buzzer beating shot just before time expired to give Ronan a tie breaking edge 55-53. Earthboy and Jeremiah North Piegan were major factors in the offense for that game, netting matching 19s to account for almost 70% of their scoring.
Last minute heroics have not been strangers to the Chiefs this season. North Piegan hit a game winning shot over Eureka with less than 2 seconds remaining. In another overtime win over Corvallis, Rhett Duffey hit a triple with 2.3 seconds remaining in regulation to knot the score at 48 apiece and force the extra period. Then senior guard Colton McCrea sank one of a pair a free throws with 1.4 seconds remaining to give Ronan a thrilling 55-54 cross classification victory.
In the course of reviewing game outcomes for the Chiefs this season, half of their sixteen games thus far have hinged on two scores or less, a half dozen of those by two points or less. Half of those eight games have tilted Ronan’s direction, the other half to the other club.
Earthboy is the leading scorer for the Chiefs with an average in the teens that puts him on pace to net his career 500th in the final game of the regular schedule if he maintains his per game scoring average. North Piegan is just shy of averaging double figures himself and could crest his career 300th point scored during the postseason if he maintains or exceed his per game average.
Two other players who have turned in double figure games thus far this season include July Sorrell and Colton McCrea. McCrea is one free-throw away from netting his 100th point this season. Justin Krahn and Rhett Duffey have turned in a couple of games that were a conversion away of doing the same and both of these have long distance dial the operator capability from beyond the arc.
Consequently, the Chiefs have the weaponry to light up the scoreboard when they are hitting their shots. But on the flip side, scoring anemia has plagued their shooting touch at times, such as their recent just-missed-pulling-off- a-rally loss to Troy by two measly points in which they missed their first 19 shots of the game, many of them from close bunny range.
Their visitors will have a burr in their saddle about the overtime loss they suffered the last time they met, so orange & black players would be advised to eat a healthy dose of carrots before game time to placate those bunny opportunities that arise so that they hop down the hole instead of off the rim instead. This time around their purple & gold swashbuckling neighbors up the highway are unlikely to give them multiple opportunities to turn misses into put-back points.
On the other side of the court will be the visiting Polson Pirates, who ironically have had a season not all that dissimilar from their Ronan counterparts. The Pirates have had a quintet of games in which the outcome has hinged on two scores or less, a trio of those being overtime losses. Their most recent outing was against top-ranked defending state champion Columbia Falls, a contest which was tied up until the final ticks of the clock when WildCat free-throws would decide the outcome 62-59.
Senior guard Andrew Curley is ranked as the top deep threat from three-point land in the NWA conference and is coming off a week in which he connected on better than half his attempts in twenty attempts. Curley seems to have a penchant for heating up as the season progresses as last season he hit a half dozen in a row in a state tournament game.
Sophomore post Matthew Rensvold is the leading scorer as well as rebounder for the team and has dual century club credentials for the season on his resume in both categories. Fellow sophomore guard/forward Tanner Wilson is the third leading scorer as well as rebounder on the team and is closing in on his career 300th point before the regular schedule wraps up.
Pirate productivity has been further infused by an additional quartet of seasoned seniors who have contributed to the coffers this season. Guard Chris McDonald and post/forward Joe Gallatin tend to be defensive nightmares for opponents. McDonald tends to be overlooked as a rebounding threat, but his assessment of positioning and angles of approach have earned him second leading rebounder status on the team along with the host of other intangibles he brings to the club. Gallatin brings two-time defensive football credentials to the hardcourt which denote transferable skills that are reflected in the manner in which he excells at clogging lanes and blockades traffic from penetrating the paint.
Senior forward Derek Peel is ranked among the conference leaders for steals and provides the Pirates with another proficient deep threat from beyond the arc. The tally for alone from both JV as well as varsity contests his sophomore season netted over 200 points that included a career high game of 35 points against the Glacier Wolfpack sophomores. Guard Grey Fitzpatrick plays a crucial role in spelling starters and his minutes have been increasingly productive as the season has progressed.
The Pirate lineup is further supplemented by a pair of juniors in guard Payton Lefthand and post/forward Wyatt Ducharme. Lefthand is one of the premiere ball handlers on the team who is their third-leading deep threat as well as free-throw shooter and second-leading thief of basketballs along with disher of assists. Ducharme has almost reeled in four dozen rebounds and has been disrupting passing lanes with his long reach for steals as well as dispensing assists when a solid shot isn’t available to him.
A trio of supplemental sophomores include forward Tim Russell, post Kabe Forman-Webster and guard J’von Niemeyer.
Embarking upon this redux rendition of the annual rambunctious rez roundball rivalry wrangle,
Ronan (6-10) and Polson (4-10) have enough similarities that calling the game one way or another is too hard to tell. One might be inclined to favor Polson in this one on account of their classification status of playing in Class A, but they will be playing in R House for this game, where Ronan has been known to turn the tables on opponents for years.
The history between Chief and Pirate basketball encounters has had its share of cardiac capers. The widest point differentials have been when Ronan bested Polson by 19 in Dec 2006, while Polson overran Ronan by 38 a handful of years later. Many games tend to be decided by a margin of no more than ten points, several by 3 points or less, sometimes even stretching into overtime.
One of those games that featured one of the wider scoring margins took place at Lindermann Gym. In Jan 2007, Ronan’s Nolan Harris appeared to have received some kind of special shooting dispensation as a gift for his birthday when he scored 31 points against the Pirates, going 10-15 from the floor with 8 treys.
Taking a slice out of previous Polson-Ronan rivalry history, the average score over one eight game segment was a narrow 56-53 margin. Factor out those games with the widest scoring margins and that average score shrunk to 53-52 . More often than not, the Polson vs. Ronan rivalry features a contest that tends to be nerve-racking for the coaches but quite entertaining for the spectators.
How this particular round of the rivalry will result will likely be dependent on how many games differentiate between a winner and a loser.
Whichever team exercises better shot selectivity and converts enough shots while playing a superior brand of defense is more often than not the winner that emerges at the end of the contest. There are always those exceptions that take place when one team gets hot and the other team has difficulty finding the appropriate insulation to keep from getting burned.
Polson will be coming into R House with a bee in their bonnet and a burr in their saddle from the overtime embarrassment suffered up at Polson earlier in the year. Ronan will be motivated to reinforce the idea that the previous outcome was no fluke by doing it again. One way or another, fans in attendance can likely expect an entertaining game no matter which way the outcome hinges.