Lady Pirates struggle against Class-AA competition

POLSON — The Polson High School girl’s basketball team has struggled against the Class-AA competition they’ve faced dropping three-consecutive games to Glacier, Hamilton and Flathead.

The Lady Pirates fell to Class-AA Glacier 52-23 Tuesday night at the Pirates’ gymnasium.

“Glacier had some older girls and they out-sized us across the board,” Lady Pirates’ Coach Joe Quinn said. “They also had this girl, Nikki Kruger. She was tough for us to handle inside, and it was hard to rebound against them because they had some big girls inside that could easily rebound with their length.”

Quinn said he felt the loss was a good tune-up for the Lady Pirates’ conference season.

“I think it means it’s always good to have a game where you are playing those AA teams with our inexperience right off the get-go,” Quinn said. “It’s kind of tough. There are quite a few girls that would play like a quarter of JV and are now expecting to play varsity.”

The Lady Pirates have struggled with turnovers, according to Quinn.

“We have some inexperienced girls going up against these upperclassmen and it’s been tough to win the turnover battle,” Quinn said. “We want to get less turnovers.”

Quinn said he felt his team need to be more “aggressive.”

“We got to the free throw line a little bit and we’ve been making some aggressive moves in getting to the free throw line,” Quinn said.

Lauren Lefthand led the Lady Pirates with 10 points, Mollie Fisher had seven. Mikayla Croft, Quinn Motichka, and Kaelyn Smith all scored two apiece.

Glacier 20 6 14 12 – 52

Polson 1 7 8 7 – 23

GLACIER – Nikki Krueger 16, Anna Schrade 10, Kali Gulick 6, Cadie Williams 6, Ahna Kreitinger 2, McKenna Hulslander 2, Maddie Rauthe 2, Courtney Mitchell 8.

POLSON – Lauren Lefthand 3 3-9 10, Molly Fisher 4 1-2 9, Kaelyn Smith 0 2-2 2, McKayla Croft 2.

16REB (Lefthand 3, Fisher 3, Croft 3, Smith 3, Alex Pierre 2, Quinn Motichka, Olivia Perez). 10STL (Lefthand 6, Fisher, Motichka, Smith, Perez). 4AST (Lefthand 3, Motichka). 6BLK (Fisher 3, Lefthand *2, Smith). (Tu13Dec16)

Asterisk (*) denotes stat variant(s): Lefthand 4b

Flathead 55, Polson 17

The Lady Pirates were defeated by Flathead 55-17 and despite the loss, Quinn said he felt his team was “getting good experience.”

“Our ladies are getting lots of experience that is for sure,” Quinn said. “In the Flathead game, we didn’t have Lauren Lefthand and because of that, Smith was our No. 1. That was the first time she has been a point guard.”

Smith went 6-for-10 from the floor and led the Lady Pirates with 12 points. Fisher also scored five in the loss.

“Being a ball handler was a little extra pressure on the girls and the younger girls have to get more minutes,” Quinn said. “She is gaining experience with every game, and it’s a learning experience for her to get more reps.”

Polson 2 8 5 2 – 17

Flathead 19 10 10 13 – 52

POLSON – Kaelyn Smith 3 6-10 12, Mollie Fisher 2 1-2 5.

FLATHEAD – Kylee Meredith 1 0-0 3, Averie Olson 2 2-2 6, Mary Heaton 1 2-2 4, Kelsey Gillespie 4 0-0 10, Clara Vandenbosch 3 0-0 7, Sara Clarin 2 0-0 4, Taylor Henley 3 0-2 6, Tiana Johnson 4 4-7 12.

14REB (Smith 5, Motichka 3, Fisher 2, Mikayla Croft, Tasha Gravelle, Alex Pierre, Olivia Perez). 11STL (Smith 5, Motichka 3, Fisher, Croft, Gravelle). 3AST (Smith, Motichka, Fisher). 2BLK (Smith, Croft). (Th15Dec16)

Hamilton 55, Polson 33

The Lady Pirates fell in their second game of the week falling to Hamilton 55-33 Thursday night at Hamilton.

“I was really impressed with them in the Missoula Tip-Off,” Quinn said. “They are a good quick team and we were able to end the first quarter trailing only 12-9.”

Quinn said his Lady Pirates were hurt in the second quarter with Hamilton outscoring them 27-20.

“Smith was filling in for Lauren and took a good shot to her leg,” Quinn said. “She was out of the game and treated for the trainer for that. Because of Smith’s injury, there was a lot of pressure on the younger girls to step up. Because of their inexperience, it made it easier for them to turn baskets in.”

One area Quinn would like to shore up is the level of aggression his team has demonstrated. The Lady Pirates team got to the free throw line only four times and was 1-for-4 from the free throw line.

Fisher led the Lady Pirates with 10, Croft had six, Smith had six, and Natasha Gravelle had five. The Lady Pirates were 13-for-32 from the floor.

“The girls worked extremely hard and they never quit,” Quinn said. “They came back and played hard. They’ve been doing that all season and I can’t fault them for their intensity.”

Quinn said he felt his team is “working hard” despite the slow start against non-conference opponents.

“We will just have to keep learning from it and hopefully the girls keep working hard,” Quinn said. “They have their chins up, they want to get better and they continued to play hard. Hopefully, we can get some wins. They are out working hard and giving themselves the opportunity to play.”