Lady Trojans punch ticket for divisional tournament
<p>Freshman guard Allie Coldwell on her way to the hoop after stealing the ball in the third quarter vs. Thompson Falls. She draws a foul and goes two for two from the line. Lady Trojans fall 49-35.</p>
<p>Freshman Aurora Becquart brings the ball down court fourth quarter vs. Plains 1-24-15 (Plains' Leah Thompson, right)</p>
The Lady Trojans extended their winning streak to three in a play-in game at Eureka Tuesday night. Troy won the rubber match against the Lions, 44-35, and kept their season alive for post-season action.
Troy’s coach Justin Young was elated with his team’s victory. “I’m still riding that cloud,” he said a day after Troy carved its name in the playoff bracket for the first time in at least five years.
It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows for Troy as first-half jitters plagued the team. “It was the most nervous I’ve seen our girls since the beginning of the season,” Young said. “It took to the end of the first quarter to get our feet underneath us.”
But after being down seven at one point in the first half, Kaitlyn Downey drained a couple three-pointers to pull Troy within four points going into halftime.
Young said his halftime pep talk was the shortest of the season as his team was eager to get the second half underway. The team made up for a lackluster first half and unleashed a 15-2 third quarter on Eureka.
“We were hitting the open players and they were nailing their shots,” Young said.
The Lions weren’t able to gain any ground on the Lady Trojans in the fourth quarter, with both teams tallying nine points.
“Eureka adapted their game plan and did some good stuff early on,” Young said, “but our girls answered.”
Allie Coldwell was able to shake-off a knee injury against Noxon and dumped in 14 points. “She got a new knee brace and is looking like her old self out there,” Young said.
Aurora Becquart chipped in 12 points as Troy improved to 6-13 on the season.
Eureka, which got a game-high 16 points from Amanda Peterson, closed out its season at 6-13.
Troy is guaranteed a spot at the divisional tournament in Kalispell, but first they will play a couple of games to decide their seeding in the tournament. The Lady Trojans traveled to Plains on Thursday for a 7 p.m. game. There were no results available at press time.
“Our girls are definitely peaking at the right time,” Young said. “We’re going to have to play our best basketball, and Plains will probably need to make a few mistakes we can capitalize on.”
Young said Plains is the team to beat in the division. He said the last time they played Plains, the Lady Trojans held them scoreless for the first six minutes of the game.
Troy will go to Columbia Falls on Saturday to play either Bigfork or Thompson Falls, with the winners and losers from each game playing each other.
Troy Lady Trojans (44)
Aurora Becquart 12, Allie Coldwell 14, Kaitlyn Downey 8, Sami Rohrich 4, Allie Brown 6.
Eureka Lady Lions (35)
Charity Parsons 2, Courtney Lemer 2, Nicole Anderson 2, Amanda Peterson 16, Stacy Cooper 10, Erynn Thier 3.
Troy 10 10 15 9_ 44
Eureka 11 13 2 9_ 35