Lady Loggers wear down Troy on Tuesday

In a game that started off close, the Lady Loggers eventually took control and ran away with the score, 60-19.

"They were a better team last night," said Trojan coach Troy DeBoard. "But I do think the outcome will be different in the next game," he added. "I'm not trying to make excuses, but we are sick."

One of Troy's leading scorers - Molly Harpole - was one of his athletes absent from the game with the flu.

"We didn't have all of our girls last night," he said. "We are absolutely piecing together the wounded."

The high scorer for Troy was Delsey Olds, who made 6 points against Libby's defense, who was all over Troy.

Making 25 steals, the Lady Loggers kept Troy at bay.

"Our guards did a nice job of pressuring the basketball," said Libby coach Jim May, noting Brooke Hageness had the most with 7 and Holly Cirian had 6.

"The Troy girls were pretty thin, I was impressed with their effort quite honestly, considering they battled the flu."

Lady Trojan Liz Straley took over for the absent Harpole, contributing 4 points.

"Liz Straley had to play the point, which she hasn't done all year," said DeBoard. "She did a wonderful job."

Troy is 6-2 overall and still in first place in their district.

Tonight they play Eureka, who watched the game Tuesday night in Libby.

"Eureka came down to scout us," said DeBoard. "They didn't see anything because we just did a box-in-one on Jackie Mee. "They saw a pieced together offense, so they wasted a trip, which is good for us."

Troy Freshman Cassidy Hand, 5'2", and Sophomore Allie Maestas, 5'6", had the job of guarding Jackie Mee, 6'0", helping to hold her to four points in the first half.

"They struggle if you can alter her ability," said DeBoard of Libby. "It worked for us the beginning of the game."

Mee eventually tallied 14 points for Libby, the highest, with Britanny Martin contributing 11 and Laice Dedrick 10.

May said their offense has improved this season, but still needs work.

"We're slowly getting better on offense, but we need to shoot better - that's got to be more of a consistent thing," said May. "I think it was pretty balanced," he added of the scorers. "They ran a defense that tried to shut down our leading scorer, so some of the other kids found their mark and hit some shots, which is always helpful."

The night after their first season loss at Mission, the Lady Trojans used the same box-in-one defense on Arlee's Jordan Pfau, beating them in Troy, 38-35.

The win was especially sweet, due to flu symptoms almost sending a player to the hospital right after the Mission game.

"To get beat as bad as we did and turn around the next night and win says something about our girls," said DeBoard. "They are polite and kind - they are exceptional kids. They're starting to understand what tradition is."

As to the health of his team against Eureka, DeBoard said he thought they would be at 70 percent.

"I just hope we can get a team there. We're not the only team that's battling it, but we've been severely hampered for sure."

Nevertheless, DeBoard is optimistic.

"We've already doubled the amount of wins from last year. We're still very happy where we're at."

"They gave their all last night," he added. "We left nothing on the floor, and we got beat by a better team. They're an "A" school - they should beat us."

Libby is tied for second in their division with Whitefish, who they play January 25.

The Lady Loggers will play a double header in Polson this weekend.

May said it will be a big game, as they have a new coach and a new team with a similar record.