Lady Loggers down Trojans, 40-23
The Libby Lady Loggers defended their home turf against the young guns from Troy last night at Ralph Tate Gym by a final score of 40-23. Libby started five seniors while Troy started two freshmen, two sophomores and only one senior.
Allie Coldwell got Troy off to a fast start with a steal and then split Libby’s defense for a layup.
Libby worked the ball around to start the game, but missed a couple of shots close to the basket that could have given them the lead. That may have led them to force the action a bit. “We get impatient and we want to be superwomen and shoot after two passes and it doesn’t work,” Libby coach Jim May said after the game. “That’s a recipe for a lot of defense and we like to play offense,” he said.
At the end of the first quarter Troy held a 4-3 lead.
Trojans head coach Justin Young was happy with the way his team came out and played loose, something he constantly emphasizes.
Aurora Becquart got Troy on the board first in the second quarter with drive and right-handed layup.
After that the teams traded fouls with each team missing several opportunities to score points from the free-throw line.
With about 5:15 left in the second quarter, Hailey Craig hit a 3-pointer that loosened up Troy’s interior defense a bit. About halfway through the quarter Libby applied the full-court pressure Young knew his team would see at some point.
Craig hit two more 3-pointers in the quarter helping Libby take an 18-10 lead at the half. “We found our 3-point shooter after a while, we got her the ball, that’s a team play there,” said May.
Craig hit another deep-ball for Libby after halftime that would be the last basket of the night for her. She scored a team-high 12 points in the game.
Coldwell scored an inside bucket for Troy and then Taylor Brown hit a 3-pointer shrinking Libby’s lead to 21-15.
But with Troy’s defense now respecting Libby’s outside shooting the interior started to open up, resulting in several baskets in the paint for the Lady Loggers.
Libby’s defensive pressure started to frustrate the Trojans. Troy threw the ball away several times and Libby stole the ball several times in the third quarter.
By the end of the third quarter Libby’s lead had stretched to 27-18.
Libby started their scoring in the fourth quarter with a fast break and a nice give-and-go pass to Hailley Moe for a bucket. Libby picked up the pressure of their half-court defense in the fourth quarter, leading to several more errant passes by the Trojans.
With 41 seconds left in the game Libby put in many of their bench player to finish out the game.
Young said of the game, “Obviously the minus is the loss, but that would be the only minus.” He added, “This game shows we have a bright future and I honestly think it will be a lot sooner than most people anticipated.”
May was impressed with the way the opposition played. “Troy girls played great. They’re so much improved, they’re working hard, they took it to us,” said May, “kudos to them.”
Libby travels to Frenchtown to face the Broncos in a 7-B matchup on Saturday Jan. 10.
Troy hits the road to Bigfork on Friday Jan. 9; then play Ronan at home on Saturday.
Libby Lady Loggers (40)
Hailey Craig 12, Shyla Stevenson 8, Hailley Moe 6, Shannon Reny 11, Devon Gallagher 1, Dayln Germany 2
Troy Lady Trojans
(23)
Olivia Roach 3, Taylor Brown 3, Allie Coldwell 13, Kaitlyn Downey 2, Allie Brown 2
Libby 3 15 9 13 - 40
Troy 4 6 8 5 - 23