Lady Loggers sweep, 2-0 at Tip Off Tournament

The Libby High School girls basketball team came away with a winning record from the Tip Off Tournament in Missoula over the weekend, taking out Dillon 34-22 and Corvallis 43-31.

But even as they power past opponents, the Lady Loggers are only working to get better every time they set foot on the court.

“I think we ended the weekend a better team than when we started, and that’s really important,” said Libby Head Coach Wally Winslow.

Winslow said that he was pleased throughout the course of the weekend, observing as the Lady Loggers showed improvements even from one quarter to the next.

And adaptation is going to be important this season.

With loss of some core players who were in last year’s senior class, even the experienced players on the team are learning new roles and taking on new challenges, Winslow said.

In both their game against Dillon and against Corvallis, Libby lead early and kept ahead of their opponents.

Though Dillon came out with a smaller team, the Lady Beavers were extremely fast and quick, Winslow said. But Libby pushed out with a 23-11 lead by the end of the second quarter, more than matching Dillon’s speed.

“We were pressing, but we just got the fast break going, so that kind of jump started us for the rest of the game,” Winslow said.

Scoring slowed some in the second half, with both teams scoring 11 points in the final two quarters. Dillon was never able to come back from the second quarter.

On Saturday, the Lady Loggers got a good jump on Corvallis, Winslow said. “It was 14 to nothing in the first four minutes of the game.”

Corvallis pushed back, making it to within five points during the second half, he said. Libby responded with a strong half-court offense in the second half, and senior Jayden Winslow went 6-6 at the free throw line in the final quarter, helping to seal a double-digit victory.

Against the larger, stronger Lady Blue Devils, Libby was able to switch up and adapt to play to their strengths, Winslow said.

The Lady Loggers are still in a growth portion of the season, despite the amount of experience the team boasts, Winslow said. Even for the more experienced girls, there is still adjusting back to the game and learning the current team dynamics.

“Even though they’ve been playing together for a long time, they’re filling spots that are vacated from kids that left last year, so they’re kind of getting all that worked out,” Winslow said.

Winslow had praise for seniors Alli Collins and Jayden Winslow.

“They did some nice things for us offensively. Both of them have a lot of confidence with the ball in their hand, and definitely have a good understanding of what we’re trying to do from an offensive standpoint -- and a defensive standpoint as well,” he said.

Junior McKenzie Proffitt also stood out at the tournament, he said. “Especially In the Corvallis game -- and against some pretty physical competition. “She just really works really hard and brings something to the table defensively and from a rebounding standpoint every game, and that’s just an invaluable thing for us.”

The tournament also gave some of the less experienced players a chance to get out and experience what it was like to play in front of a large crowd of strangers during a tournament, Winslow said. And there was good contribution from around the team.

Tip Off Tourny

Missoula

Thursday, Dec. 8

Libby 34, Dillon 22

L 6 17 6 5 - 34

D 4 7 7 4 - 22

Libby: Alli Collins 10 points, 3-4 FT; Emma Gruber 2 points; Jayden Winslow 14 points, 2-4 FT; Sammee Bradeen 6 points, 1-2 FT; McKenzie Proffitt 2 points, 0-2 FT

Dillon: Tulia DaJohn 10 points; Charli Hazelbaker 2 points; Josey Jones 6 points; Kylee Pittman 2 points; Madelan Shipman 2 points

Friday, Dec. 9

Libby 43, Corvallis 31

L 14 7 9 13 - 43

C 5 10 8 8 - 31

Libby: Alli Collins 14 points, 4-5 FT; Emma Gruber 3 points, 1-2 FT; Samantha Miller 2 points; Jayden Winslow 15 points, 6-6 FT; Sammee Bradeen 7 points, 5-7 FT; Isabelle Kapan 2 points, 0-4 FT

Corvallis: Hannah Hutchison 5 points; Calla Halderson 13 points, 6-7 FT; Hannah Martain 2 points; Ashlynn Nixon 10 points; Hadli Lords 1 points, 1-2 FT