Lady Loggers snag one, let one slip away in tourney

The Lady Loggers were off to a great start with a win over Corvallis in Friday's tournament, 42-29; but they lost momentum the next day against the Lady Bronc's, losing 47-36 despite a momentary comeback.

Coach Jim May said the girls had a great first half in Friday's game in Whitefish against the Blue Devils, their first leg of the Northwestern A vs. Southwestern A Girls Tip-off Tournament.

"We did a good job of getting Jackie Mee the ball - especially in the first quarter," May said. "In the second half, we were too careless with the ball."

Mee made 25 of the 42 points, with Holly Cirian scoring second highest at seven points.

Nicole Rios made three points, with Brooke Hageness and Brittany Martin scoring two points apiece.

Laice Dedrick, Nichole Newman and Jaime Gilden each contributed one point.

The Blue Devils never really threatened Libby's lead, which at one point was a whopping 20 points.

Saturday's game told a different story - of Libby coming from behind and leading in the fourth quarter, only to lose it in the end.

"We rallied to take the lead in the fourth, 24-23, outscoring them 10-2 in the third quarter to do that," said May.

Although the Lady Loggers had the first bucket in the fourth quarter, from there it was downhill.

"The wheels just fell off," said May. "We had some missed assignments, and they made them."

Mee led the team in scoring with 24 points. Dedrick made 7, with Hageness and Cirian making two a piece and Martin scoring one point.

The Northwestern A teams lost overall, 7-5.

May was optimistic in his team's performance.

"Overall we accomplished some of the things we wanted to - like getting some of new players minutes in the game and playing aggressive. We had some new things we were trying out, but we did not take very good care of the basketball."

May said their next game, Tuesday's game against Bigfork, would be telling as well.

"It's a big game," he said. "It will give us a good idea of where we stand in the league."

Corvallis Blue Devils — 10 7 2 10 29

Libby Lady Loggers — 18 8 8 8 42

Libby Lady Loggers — 5 9 10 12 36

Hamilton Lady Broncs — 6 15 2 24 47