Maidens win one at Divisionals

The Maidens won one game at the Western A Divisional Tournament, Feb. 22-24 in Butte. While they didn’t place, Ronan was within striking distance of a state berth and ended the season with eight wins.

The Maidens fell to Southwest No. 1 seed Frenchtown 66-40 in their first tournament game last Thursday. The Lady Broncs jumped out to a strong 36-24 lead in the first half and then opened the second half with a 19-9 run.

Maddy Illig and Kailyn Marengo led the Maidens with nine points each, and Lauryn Buhr added eight.

Ronan had previously played Frenchtown in December’s Tip-Off Tournament, where the Maidens took the game to overtime before falling 48-46.

Thursday’s loss moved the Maidens into the consolation bracket, where they faced and defeated Hamilton 51-36 on Friday.

Ronan’s defense shut Hamilton out in the first quarter, and the Maidens led 16-6 at halftime. While the Broncs cut into Ronan’s lead in the third quarter by three points, the Maidens finished the game on a 20-12 run for the victory.

Zailee Hewankorn led Ronan with 15 points, Lauryn Buhr posted seven rebounds and 11 points, and Maddy Illig notched eight points. Buhr reached the 100-point mark for the season and bounced over the 300-point mark for her career.

Arianna Zepeda had five rebounds and eight assists, crossing over 100 assists for her career. Hewankorn also hauled in six rebounds, while Illig had five.

That win moved Ronan into the consolation semifinals, where they faced Dillon. The Beavers got off to a hot start and downed the Maidens 69-33 on Saturday.

Dillon led 28-8 after one quarter and then went into halftime with a 45-18 lead.

Marengo led Ronan with nine points, while Buhr contributed seven.

The loss ended Ronan’s season and put their overall record at 8-15.

Saturday, February 24

DILLON 69, RONAN 33

Dillon - 28 - 17 - 15 - 9 - 69

Ronan - 8 - 10 - 6 - 9 - 33

RONAN SCORING - Kailyn Marengo 9, Lauryn Buhr 7, Maddy Illig 5, Kylee Kelch 4, Neveah Perez 3, Ernie Tapia-Torosian 3,

Friday, February 23

RONAN 51, HAMILTON 36

Ronan - 8 - 8 - 15 - 20 - 51

Hamilton - 0 - 6 - 18 - 12 - 36

RONAN SCORING - Zailee Hewankorn 15, Lauryn Buhr 11, Maddy Illig 8, Kailyn Marengo 5, Neveah Perez 4, Arianna Zepeda 4, Kylee Kelch 2, Dallas St. Goddard 2

Thursday, February 22

FRENCHTOWN 66, RONAN 40

Frenchtown - 17 - 19 - 25 - 5 - 66

Ronan - 16 - 8 - 7 - 9 - 40

RONAN SCORING - Maddy Illig 9, Kailyn Marengo 9, Lauryn Buhr 8, Arianna Zepeda 5, Zailee Hewankorn 4, Neveah Perez 3, Kylee Kelch 1