Ronan picks up first victory of the year

Coming off a one-point loss to East Helena on Dec. 10, the Ronan girls basketball team put in a strong defensive performance Dec. 15 and picked up their first win of the season. Opening up Western A Conference play, Ronan faced Libby on the road last Thursday and came away with the 43-21 victory.

After giving up 72 and 58 points in their first two games of the year, this was a big step up on the defensive side. Ronan took the 9-5 lead in the first quarter; Libby could muster just four points in the second stanza.

“We got the win, the first of the season and it’s always good to get that monkey off our back,” Ronan Head Coach Steve Woll said. “Having it be a conference win is bigger yet.”

The Maidens led 21-9 at halftime, and continued to stifle Libby’s defense, giving up just 12 points in the second half. Woll said the team did some things good defensively with 19 steals in the game and scrapped for 20 points in the paint, where they shot most efficiently.

“There was intensity on defense and we rebounded well,” Woll said. “We executed at times when we needed to.”

Early in the season it’s still a work in progress, as the Maidens shot 7-of-24 from the free-throw-line. According to Woll, missed free throws are just as good as turnovers.

Olivia Heiner led the Maidens with 11 points and four steals, while Leina Ulutoa notched nine points and nine rebounds. Arianna Zepeda dished out five assists for the offense as well. It was a spread-out effort by Ronan that Woll enjoyed.

“We didn’t have anyone stand out above the rest, it was kind of a team effort,” Woll said.

Heiner was the No. 8 scorer in the Western A Conference last year, averaging 9.7 points per game. She was also fourth in the conference in steals with three a game.

Libby shot 16.7 percent from the field and only hit two of 19 three-pointers attempted. They also turned the ball over 33 times, which Ronan scored 22 points off of. Moving fast was also a strong point for the Maidens and they notched 14 points in transition.

The Lady Loggers were led by Rachel Kosters eight points. They dropped to 0-2 on the year after coming off a 2-16 campaign in 2021-22.

Ronan defeated Libby 47-16 at home and 48-24 on the road last year en route to a 13-5 record and third-place finish in the Western A Conference.

“Winning this game is huge because you don’t want to be at the bottom looking up, you want to keep pace with everybody, so this is a big confidence booster,” Woll said.

After playing host to defending Conference Champions Browning on Tuesday, the Maidens (1-2) will enjoy Christmas break before hosting Whitefish on Dec. 3.

“I expect full court pressure against Browning,” Woll said. “They like to pound you and beat you up on defense. They have a really good senior point guard that makes them go and a good high post game so they will be tough.”

At Libby

RONAN 43, LIBBY 21

RONAN - 9 - 12 - 6 - 14 - 43

LIBBY - 5 - 4 - 6 - 6 - 21

Ronan - Olivia Heiner 11, Leina Ulutoa 9, Ally Luedtke 5, Lauryn Buhr 4, Kaydance Santos 2, Arianna Zepeda 2

Libby - Rachel Kosters 8, Ashley Freese 5, Rylee Boltz 3, Kinzee Boehmler 3, Ellie Andreessen 1, Peyton Waggoner 1