Lady Trojans end season with tourney losses

The Lady Trojans’ season came to an end with a pair of losses at the Western B Divisional Tournament in Kalispell with games on Wednesday and Thursday. Troy faced the Ronan Maidens in their first game and then took on Deer Lodge the following day.

In Troy’s 8 a.m. loser-out game on Thurdsay, the Lady Trojans fell to Deer Lodge, losing by a score of 47-28. The Lady Wardens jumped out to a 17-6 lead in the first quarter.

“Our girls were still a little sleepy when the game started,” said Young. By the end of the half Troy was down by 10 points. The Lady Trojans had trouble making their close-range shots. “This weekend our biggest problem was hitting our layups,” Young said.

The Lady Trojans were able to pull within four points in the second half, but couldn’t get any closer.

Young had to sit Allie Coldwell for a spell after she picked up her fourth foul about two minutes into the third quarter.

In the final quarter, Young said, “We started to taking quick shots and not getting the best looks at the basket.” Troy was only able to score three points in the fourth quarter, eliminating any chance to threaten.

Senior guard for the Lady Trojans Taylor Brown said, “ We tried as hard as we could given the circumstances. It was really good to play with these girls one last time.”

Brown and fellow senior Olivia Thomas said it was exciting to get a conference win this year, which is something that hadn’t been accomplished for a couple of years. “I’m really happy about the way the season went,” said Thomas. “It was nice to see the girls play their hardest, even though we didn’t get the win.”

Coach Young said working with his team was a blast this season and he’s looking forward to continue making progress with the team. “The future is really bright. It’s hard to focus on that right now, losing our beloved seniors who have worked so hard for us,” Young said.

Young said the team reached their goals for the season of getting a conference win and making their way to the divisional tournament.

Netting 11 points, freshman Kaitlyn Downey led Troy in scoring for the game. Young said Downey steadily improved throughout the season, picking up more varsity time as the season went on.

“Over the last six games she became the teams’ most consistent shooter,” Young said.

Aurora Becquart contributed nine points for the Lady Trojans.

Playing in her final game of her high school career, Brown said “I don’t have any regrets from my last game.”

The Lady Trojans finished the season with six wins and 17 losses.

Troy Lady Trojans (28)

Kaitlyn Downey 11, Aurora Becquart 9, Allie Coldwell 2, Sami Rohrich 1, Allie Brown 4

Deer Lodge Lady Wardens (47)

Natalie Podovich 18, Lenora Campbell 7, Jaicee Senecal 2, Kerstin Cooper 1, Kelcie Gray 6, Maggie Chrisman 6, Jesslyn Crichton 4

Troy          6 10 8  3_ 28

D. Lodge 17  7 13 9_ 47

The Lady Trojans lost their opening game of the Western B Divisional Tournament on Wednesday against the Ronan Maidens 57-45.

Only down one point after the first quarter, the Maidens owned the second quarter and took a 25-11 lead into halftime. “That second quarter we got into a mental funk and couldn’t buy a bucket,” said Troy coach Justin Young.

In the second half, the Lady Trojans came out fired up Young said. “We aggressively attacked the basket and had good ball movement with crisp passes,” he said. Troy nearly matched the Maidens point-for-point in the second half, but it wasn’t quite enough to overcome a slow start.

Freshman guard Allie Coldwell had a quiet 20 points to lead the Trojans, hitting on 10 of 10 from the free-throw line. Freshman teammate Kaitlyn Downey chipped in 11 points.

Senior Olivia Thomas said it was nice the team could make it to the divisional tournament. “We were still kind of processing that we had gotten to divisionals, and we were a little fatigued with all it took to get there,” she said.

“Ronan is a very athletic team and our girls played their hearts out against them,” said Young.

Sophomore guard Alicia Camel put in 24 points, 16 of them coming in the second half to pace the Maidens.

Troy Lady Trojans (45)

Allie Brown 6, Allie Coldwell 20, Aurora Becquart 6, Kaitlyn Downey 11

Troy      9   4 18 14_ 45

Ronan 10 16 17 14_ 57