Basketball teams prepare to play at home this Saturday

Good news for basketball fans this weekend: All four local teams are playing at home.

Libby’s boys and girls play AA schools from Kalispell. Troy’s teams play Noxon this Saturday. 

Libby hopes to rebound from a tough time at the tipoff tournament with a good performance against bigger schools. 

The Lady Loggers, 0-3 after a cagey Bonners Ferry team beat them 54-38 Tuesday, now face a big challenge in Flathead High School.

“They have 1,200 kids, but still only start five,” said girls Head Coach Jim May. “They have more experience than us, but everyone does.”

May said the experience wasn’t going to faze them. Libby knows its numbers are thinned after presumptive leader Taylor Quinn went down with a knee injury.

She’ll be out indefinitely, and high scorers Hailey Craig and Hannah England have to take over for the team. Craig had 14 and England had 11 in the loss to Bonners Ferry.

Meanwhile, the boys are reeling from a Stevensville team that beat them up inside.

Head Coach Wally Winslow said his team needed to work on rebounding. Stevi had out rebounded the Loggers all game long.

“It’s about anticipation,” Winslow said. “It doesn’t have to be about size.”

Winslow said Flathead plays a similar style of ball to Stevensville, which means Saturday could be a long game if Libby does not take advantage of shots.

Junior guard Jared Winslow has consistently led the team in scoring, but coach Winslow is hoping to get the ball inside to senior forward Barak Lapka and senior center Kraig Nelson to make more shots from the post.

The Troy teams will return home after heading to Plains the day before. Both the Trojans and Lady Trojans lost to quick Stillwater teams last week.

Plains will be the first conference game for the teams this year.