Polson teams gear up for divisional tournament

BOYS

Polson 59, Whitefish 48

At Polson last Tuesday on senior night, the Pirates punctuated their undefeated conference slate with an exclamation point by dispatching the visiting Bulldogs with a concerted team effort. Despite efforts to keep Whitefish on a tight leash, the visiting canines proved uncooperative about rolling over, refusing to concede their demise just because it was the final home stand special occasion for the Pirates. The boisterous Bulldogs would dial the operator long distance from beyond the arc and complete the call for a high percentage of triples that accounted for half their point total.

While long range sharpshooting allowed the Bulldogs to nip at the heels of their host, the Pirates orchestrated a response by harnessing the resources of their seasoned senior honorees Wyatt Ducharme, Payton Lefthand, Julian Jones and Hudson Smith, who collaborated on half the points generated over the course of the game that more than countered the long range mortar shelling by Whitefish.

This senior quartet have combined for more than 500 points, 200 rebounds, 150 assists and 100 steals over the course of the regular schedule.

Polson (1NW, 14-4) takes the top seeding into the Butte-based Western A Divisional tournament against (4SW) Stevensville (5-13) on Wednesday, February 24 at 2:30 p.m, a team they have dispatched twice by scores of 73-36 and 76-32. Anticipating their advance, they would face the winner between (2SW) Hamilton (10-8) vs. (3NW) Frenchtown (3-15) in the semifinal on Friday, February 26, at 3:00 p.m.

Whitefish 10 13 11 14 – 48

Polson 16 10 14 19 – 59

WHITEFISH – Sawyer Silliker 21, Derek Kastella 11, Jansen Anderson 6, James Sampson 3, Jacob Henry 3, Matt Brewer 2, Luke May 2.

POLSON – Matt Rensvold 5 7-7 17, Payton Lefthand 3 4-7 10, Julian Jones 3 4-4 10, Wyatt Ducharme 3 1-2 7, Tanner Wilson 1 2-5 5, Jeremiah North Piegan 2 0-0 4, Hudson Smith 0 3-4 3, J’von Niemeyer 2, Haden Smith 1.

3FGs – W8 (Silliker 2, Anderson 2, Kastella 2, Henry, Sampson), P1-5 (Wilson).

REBOUNDS *30 (Rensvold *11, Ducharme 5, Jones 5, NorthPiegan 3, Wilson 2, Lefthand, Hu.Smith, *Niemeyer, *Ha.Smith). ASSISTS 13 (Ducharme *3, Niemeyer *3, Lefthand 3, Wilson 3, Rensvold). STEALS 13 (Rensvold 4, Lefthand 3, Jones 3, Niemeyer 2, Ducharme). BLOCKS *6 (Rensvold 2, Ducharme, Lefthand, *NorthPiegan, Jones).

Asterisk (*) denotes stat variant(s) derived from alternative source – tm29r (Rensvold 10r, Niemeyer 2r, Ha.Smith 0r), tm13a (Ducharme 4a, Niemeyer 2a), tm3b (Rensvold 2b, Ducharme 0b, Lefthand 0b, Jones 0b)

Girls

Polson 44, Whitefish 42

At Polson last Thursday, the host Lady Pirate rallied from a 21-34 second half deficit during their Senior Night sendoff against the visiting Lady Bulldogs for their first conference victory, a fitting tribute for their home finale as well as a game to remember for a quartet of departing seniors. Any sign of suffering from symptoms of senioritis among seniors wasn’t evident on this evening. Soccer multi-decorated senior guard Brenna Clarke not only turned in a varsity career high for points, but she doubled the pleasure with a double-double that included teen rebounding as well. Banged up from a hyper-extended arm the previous game and bloodied by a smack to the schnozz early on in this one, basketball twice all-conference (2nd-tm 2014-15, hm 2013-14) senior post Nichole Lake still managed to delve into double digits as she not only tallied her 200th point this year, but also raked in her 150th rebound of the season. She would have scored her varsity career 500th point as well, but zebra stripes deducted credit for an early deuce when she was cited for a perceived traveling infraction.

Although fellow seniors Marlee Congdon and Erin Sampson may not have posted comparable numbers, the tennis twice all-conference (2015 singles, 2014 doubles) Congdon and track all-conference thrower (jav 3rd, shot 4th, SB 14U ASA 2011 state champ) Sampson grabbed a handful of quality rebounds without which the team would not have been able to maneuver within position to snatch victory from the canine jaws of defeat. With the game tied at 42 apiece with 19.1 seconds counting down, Lauren Lefthand corralled the rebound after she and Clarke missed the mark on preceding triple tries, then coaxed a bashful bunny to hop down the hole of the rim just before the buzzer sounded to wriggle out the victory.

Polson tied Whitefish with an identical record and since they split their series by mirror scores, tiebreaker criteria were called into play based upon performance against common opponents. Whitefish played ten games to seven for Polson against common opponents. Factoring out common losses, both teams each posted wins over Stevensville and Eureka, leaving their outcome against Hamilton as the deciding factor. Polson fell 27-36 against the defending State A champion Lady Broncs, whereas Whitefish edged them 37-33, thereby giving them the NWA 3rd-seed at the Western A Divisional tournament in Butte this weekend. The Lady Pirates would have needed to win by three or better to snare the 3rd seed entering Divisionals. In retrospect, a pair of baskets netted by Kaelyn Smith and Lefthand that were negated on account of traveling violations could have factored into that outcome.

Polson (4NW, 6-12) will have already played (5SW) Stevensville (3-15) Wednesday afternoon with the winner advancing to face undefeated Butte Central Thursday afternoon, while the loser will face the loser of the Whitefish-Dillon match up Thursday evening.

Whitefish 13 8 18 3 – 42

Polson 9 9 14 12 – 44

WHITEFISH – Cailyn Ross 6 2-4 14, Coral Schulz 12, Dani Douglas 6, Haley Nicholson 4, Makenna Benbrook 3, Annisa Brown 2, Allie Schulz 1. 16 5-16 42

POLSON – Brenna Clarke 13, Nichole Lake 12, Lauren Lefthand 10, Kaelyn Smith 6, Makenna Weltz 3.

3FGs – W5-27 (C.Schulz 4, Benbrook), P1-14 (Lefthand). REBOUNDS 43 (Clarke 14, Lake 9, Weltz 7, Smith 5, Erin Sampson 4, Lefthand 2, *Mollie Fisher, *Marlee Congdon). ASSISTS 12 (Clarke *5, Smith 3, Lake, Lefthand, Weltz, Fisher). STEALS 12 (Lefthand 4, Lake 2, Clarke 2, Fisher 2, Smith, Weltz). BLOCKS *4 (Lefthand 2, Smith, *Weltz).

Asterisk (*) denotes stat variant(s) – tm43r (Fisher 2r, Congdon 0r), tm11a (Clarke 4a), tm3b (Weltz 0b).