Lady 'Dogs struggle in pair of losses

The Lady Bulldogs struggled to put points on the board against No. 5 ranked Polson as the Lady Pirates rolled to a 67-30 conference win. The defeat dropped Whitefish to 0-4 in league play and 0-11 overall.

Senior Jessica Slaybaugh was a bright spot, as she nailed three jumpers from beyond the arc to lead the team with 11 points.

Whitefish dropped a game earlier in the week to Class AA Flathead 64-24, in which the 'Dogs played the Bravettes evenly for the first 12 minutes.

Early in the first quarter against the Bravettes, Slaybaugh drilled a running jumper in the lane, followed by Shelby Backer grabbing a rebound for a put-back on an "and-1" play to even the score at 7-7.

Danielle McCully added another two when she received a long over-arm pass off an inbounds play, where McCully was able to sneak beneath the basket untouched for an easy layup. The play pulled Whitefish within three points with two minutes on the clock.

Jessica Poe and Olivia Nagler hooked up on a nice drive-and-dish play in the second. Nagler charged into the lane, jumped as if to go for a layup, and at the last second dropped a pass to Poe, who sank the easy jumper.

Later, Slaybaugh drained a three-ball from the corner with a defender in her face to cut Flathead's lead to seven.

On the ensuing play, however, Nagler went down with an injury and Whitefish's scoring dried up for the remainder of the evening. After a scoreless third frame, the 'Dogs posted just six points in the fourth. Slaybaugh led the team with nine points.

Whitefish hosts Ronan today and travels to Libby on Saturday.