County rivals split doubleheader

RONAN — With a rocky start to the season firmly in their rearview mirror, the Polson Pirates rallied for a 56-47 road win at Northwest A rival Ronan on Friday night and punched their ticket to the divisional tournament in the process.

Jarrett Wilson scored 16 points and grabbed nine rebounds to lead the Pirates (7-2, 10-6) to their fifth consecutive conference win. Polson and Browning stood atop the boys standings with identical 7-2 conference records heading into Tuesday’s games (after the Leader went to press).

The Pirates and Indians will be the top seeds from the Northwest at the Western A divisional tournament Feb. 24-26 at Hamilton.

Polson hosts Browning on Saturday in a regular season finale, possibly with the conference title on the line.

The Chiefs, meanwhile, suffered their third consecutive loss, and they’ve lost five of their last six since a win at Arlee on Jan. 11. After leading the conference early on, they have slipped to fourth place and will need to win a district play-in game, likely against Columbia Falls or Whitefish, to make the divisional tournament.

Payton Cates led Ronan (3-5, 6-7) in scoring with 16 points to go with six rebounds, while Marlo Tonasket added 13 points and 11 rebounds.

The Chiefs led 14-8 after the first period and built a 10-point lead on a Cates jumper with 5:48 remaining in the first half. But Polson whittled away at the deficit, helped by 3-pointers from Colton Graham and Espn Fisher.

Graham trimmed the lead to one point after converting a three-point play in the final minute.

Cates answered with a jumper to put Ronan up 29-26 at half.

Jarrett Wilson scored in the paint with 2:20 left in the third quarter to put the Pirates up for good.

Graham finished with four points and 12 rebounds for Polson, which got nine points from Trent Wilson and six points each from Espn Fisher and Dawson Dumont.

Ted Coffman scored seven points for Ronan, while Elijah Tonasket finished with five points and Ruben Couture had nine rebounds and three points.

Polson 56, Ronan 47

Polson 8 - 18 - 17 - 13 – 56

Ronan 14 - 15 - 10 - 8 – 47

POLSON – Jarrett Wilson 4 8-10 16 (9r,1a,3s), Xavier Fisher 3 2-2 10 (1r,2a,2s), Trent Wilson 4 1-1 9 (4r,1s), Espn Fisher 2 0-0 6 (1r), Dawson DuMont 1 4-5 6 (6r,1a,1b), Colton Graham 1 2-4 4 (12r,4a,3s), Nikolai Figaro 2 1-2 5 (1r,2a), Ethan McCauley 0 (2r). Team: 17 18-24 56 (36r,10a,9s,1b).

RONAN – Payton Cates 8 0-1 17 (6r,2s,4b), Marlo Tonasket 6 0-0 13 (11r,1a,1s), Ted Coffman 3 0-0 7 (4r,1a), Elijah Tonasket 2 0-2 5 (4r,2a,2s), Ruben Couture 1 1-2 3 (9r,3a,2s,3b), Dillon PrettyOnTop 2, Sage Coffman 0 (2a,1s). Team: 21 1-5 47 (34r,10a,9s,7b).

3FGs – Polson 4-13 (E.Fisher 2-3, X.Fisher 2-7), Ronan 4 (Cates, T.Coffman, E.Tonasket, M.Tonasket).

Maidens seize the win

In the early game Friday, the Maidens (6-3, 11-4) jumped out to an early lead and never looked back en route to a 51-30 victory over the Lady Pirates (3-6, 4-12).

The win leaves Ronan firmly entrenched in Northwest A’s No. 3 spot, behind Columbia Falls and Browning. They’ll likely face Libby (0-8, 2-13) in a district play-in game next week, while the Lady Pirates are lined up to face Whitefish (2-6, 5-9).

Dani Coffman notched a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds for Ronan, while LaReina Cordova finished with 12, Leina Ulutoa scored nine and Kylie Fetui added eight.

Turquoise Pierre had a team-high nine points for Polson. Grace Simonich finished with six points and six rebounds.

Polson made three of 23 shots from 3-point range, while the Maidens hit three of 10.

Between games, Ronan honored the inaugural class in the Ronan High School Hall of Fame, first announced last year. Those honored included Laverne Parrish, Marvin Camel, Jim Darlington, Jana (Smith) Streitz, David Edington, the 1976 state champion wrestling team, the 1960 state champion boys basketball team, and Dorothy and Keith Lundvall.

Ronan 51, Polson 30

Polson 4 - 7 - 9 - 10 – 30

Ronan 11 - 11 - 19 - 10 – 51

POLSON – Turquoise Pierre 3 3-6 9 (5r), Grace Simonich 2 2-5 6 (6r,4s), Ari Burke 2 0-0 5 (4r,3a,2s,2b), Jazlyn Dalbey 3 (6r,1a), Lexi Wirz 3 (1a), Julia Barnard 2 (1a,1s), Ilysia Adams 2 (1r,1s,3b), Nikki Kendall 0 0-1 0 (6r,1a,1s), Mckenna Hanson 0 0-2 0 (3r,4s), Jaivin BadBear 0 (5r). Team: 11 5-14 30 (36r,7a,13s,5b).

RONAN – Dani Coffman 6 0-1 13 (10r,2a,2s,1b), LaReina Cordova 2 7-10 12 (5r,6a,5s,3b), Leina Ulutoa 4 1-4 9 (7r,2s,1b), Kylie Fetui 3 1-2 8 (6r,1a,1s), Olivia Heiner 1 2-4 4 (3r,1a,4s), Margaret Cordova 1 1-4 3 (2r,4a,1s), Lauryn Buhr 0 2-3 2 (1r), Isabella Devereaux-Trahan 0 (4r), Haylie Webster 0 (1a,1s), Arianna Zepeda (1s). Team: 17 14-28 51 (38r,15a,17s,4b).

3FGs – Polson 3-23 (Wirz 1-2, Dalbey 1-5, Burke 1-7), Ronan 3-10 (Fetui 1-1, L.Cordova 1-1, Coffman 1-2).