Lady Pirats starting to roll in second half

Polson High School girls basketball coach Juan Perez continues to emphasize to his team the importance of elevating their level of intensity during game situations and the message is starting to resonate with the Lady Pirates.

Polson, who was previously winless, won two of its last four games with victories over conference opponent Whitefish 53-48 and Stevi 40-37. Perez is aiming for his team to peak during February and March when the games count.

“I think our team is a lot different since November and December,” Perez said. “We have to keep making progress in practice and in the game. The girls continue to get games under their belt. They are definitely learning during each and every practice and every game. We keep making adjustments in practice and prepare when we step into the game.”

The much-improved Lady Pirates are still trying to find consistency. In Polson’s two losses, they’ve fallen to Libby 53-29 on Jan. 13 and Glacier 47-18 on Jan. 18. The Lady Pirates have lost the two games by a combined 100-48.

Perez knows his team is getting closer but still needs improvement as they enter the final stretch of their regular season games before their Class Western 14A District Tournament on Feb. 15-17 at the Ronan Events Center.

“That was one of my topics last week during practice is that we have to play a complete game, not 24 or 25 minutes,” Perez said. “We have to play a complete 32 minutes. Our coaching staff is trying to teach that and that is one of our goals is try to play a complete game. When we are able to do that, that will help us compete better.”

A key player that has contributed to Polson’s offensive production is Kaelyn Smith. Smith has improved significantly in her second half production, according to Perez.

“She is working her way out of her scoring slump and I think she is getting her confidence back, taking better shots, and is actually working harder at attacking the basket,” Perez said. “She is getting points off defensively and will get steals. No one is going to catch her in the open court when she is in transition getting a layup.”

One area of improvement Perez said he noticed with his team can’t be quantified on a spreadsheet was the Lady Pirate’s desire.

“The one thing I noticed (in the win over Whitefish) is that I could see that they wanted to win that game just amongst themselves,” Perez said. “They were trying to motivate each other to keep fighting.”

Perez said he felt his team is improving in two areas defensively: pressing and man-to-man defense

“We were a lot more aggressive with our press and we played man-to-man defense most of the game,” Perez said. “The girls played well in man-to-man and they were able to shut down Whitefish. Our tall players worked hard to not let their tall player catch the ball where she wanted too.”

In their loss to Glacier, Perez said his team had their opportunities to remain competitive in the game, they just couldn’t capitalize on them. After trailing the Lady Wolfpack 13-10 at the conclusion of the first quarter, Polson only generated a total of four points in the second and third quarter of the game.

“We just aren’t making our shots and we are getting those opportunities,” Perez said. “We couldn’t keep up with Libby in the second and third quarters. They had big quarters.”

Polson will again be challenged by their difficult conference schedule later in the week. The Lady Pirates will travel to its cross-country rival Ronan at 5:30 p.m. Friday night at the Ronan Events Center and to the defending Class A state champion Columbia Tuesday at 3 p.m. at Polson High School.

The Maidens, a team that is starting to get acclimated to the Class A classification and is now in their second half of the team’s conference schedule, played a No. 1 ranked Class A team Browning to a close contest in a 55-44 loss. The Lady Wildcats are one of the favorites to repeat in Class A.

In order to win these conference games, Perez said his team has to amplify its intensity in practice.

“We are really working right now in practice to pick up our intensity right away,” Perez said. “The girls are playing at a high-level right now but we just need to pick up the intensity in the first couple of quarters.”

Polson 53, Whitefish 48

At Whitefish, the visiting Lady Pirates rallied in the final frame to erase a seven point deficit against the host Lady Bulldogs to capture their first conference win of the season. The post intermission scoring surge of more than three dozen second half points was the largest sequential quarter tally on either side of the halftime break in more than three seasons as Polson erupted for their highest offensive output of their current schedule. Polson placed a trio of Lady Pirate players in double figures with Kaelyn Smith sharing game high scoring honors with Annisa Brown of Whitefish. The high teen tally vaulted Smith over the triple century (300) bar for varsity career scoring. Polson (1-5, 2-10), Whitefish (1-7, 1-12)

Polson 10 6 19 18 – 53

Whitefish 9 15 18 6 – 48

POLSON – Kaelyn Smith 19, Alex Pierre 13, Jaycee Frydenlund 12, Quinn Motichka 4, Olivia Perez 3, Marina Mayorga 2.

WHITEFISH – Annisa Brown 19, Kaiah Moore 6, Payton Kastella 6, Ashton Ramsey 5, Kit Anderson 4, Hope Brown 4, Claire Carloss 2, Marlee Bender 2.

3FGs:

(Sa20Jan18)

Glacier 47, Polson 18

At Kalispell, the visiting Lady Pirates opened the contest with a first frame flurry, but productivity plummeted thereafter as the host Lady Wolfpack mauled Polson the remainder of the contest. Fatigue, mental stemming from exam week and physical exacerbated by practice venue schedule modifications, likely took a toll on the 3 E’s that elicit effectiveness: energy, enthusiasm and endurance. Polson (1-10), Glacier (4-4)

Polson 10 1 3 4 – 18

Glacier 15 13 7 12 – 47

POLSON – Jaycee Frydelund 8, Quinn Motichka 4, Kaelyn Smith 3, Mahala Buffalo 2, Olivia Perez 1.

GLACIER – Alivia Atlee 9, Raley Shirey 8, Anna Schrade 5, Ellie Stevens 4, Aubrie Rademacher 4, Cadie Williams 3, Linsey Waugh 3, Abi Manger 2, Kaleigh Crawford 2, Micah Hickethier 2.

3FGs: P (Frydenlund 2).

(Th18Jan18)