Lady Dogs hang with Bravettes
The Lady Bulldogs took to the hardwood Friday with an air of confidence and an attitude that this basketball season will be different.
They took little time in proving that point.
Just seconds into the season-opener at home against Flathead, freshman Dani Douglas dribbled into the lane, stopped and popped a 15-footer.
Swish.
Another Douglas jumper a minute later — good.
The Dogs sprinted out to a 6-0 lead, and after one quarter were tied 14-14 with the Class AA Bravettes.
Whitefish fell behind a bit in the second period but went into the half down just 29-19 — an unthinkable result just one season ago.
“We started four guards and that seemed to set the tempo,” Whitefish coach Clint Peters said. “I saw a lot of good things on the floor in the first half.”
Flathead pulled away in the third as Whitefish got sloppy with its passing and cooled off offensively, scoring only 5 points.
Whitefish wouldn’t go away, though, as Douglas sank a trey to open the fourth and Haley Nicholson put in four points. The Lady Dogs outscored Flathead 11-6 in the period to tighten the final margin to 49-35.
The difference in the game came down to turnovers and shooting percentage, Peters said. Whitefish shot just 16 percent from the field and had 30 turnovers.
“I’m happy with how we played, but we need to clean it up,” Peters said. “The second and third quarters, we only put up five points. We can’t do that against a talented team like Flathead.
“We got a little tired and didn’t come out as fired up as we needed to be. We can’t let down. We have to come out and be ready fight.”
Peters commended the girls effort on man-to-man defense and the play from the bench.
“The bench was amazing,” he said. “That was a strong point. Everyone that came off the floor gave good effort.”
Nicholson finished with 12 points to lead the team in scoring. Douglas put in 8 and was solid running the point as the primary ball-handler.
Whitefish will play in the Northwestern/Southwestern Tip-off Tournament this weekend at the Adams Center on the University of Montana campus in Missoula. They play Stevensville at 2 p.m. Friday, and Anaconda at 5 p.m. Saturday.
“I just want to see progress — and that’s the key all year long,” Peters said. “We’re learning to play together and play a full four quarters — from tip-off to the last buzzer.”
Flathead 14 15 14 6 — 49
Whitefish 14 5 5 11 — 35
FLATHEAD — Kylee Meredith 1-2 5, Janae Moon 2-4 4, Stephanie Wilson 1-4 3, Johanna Lembke 1-3 1, Cadelyn Nunn 0-0 2, Mary Heaton 0-1 2, Lauren Clark 0-0 3, Tiana Johnson 3-6 15, Jessica Simmons 0-0 2, Liz Lorentz 2-2 4, Taryn Gutierez 0-3 8.
WHITEFISH — Dani Douglas 1-2 8, Allie Schulz 3-4 3, Katie Fyall 1-2 1, Mariah Drown 3-7 3, Anna Peterson 0-0 3, Haley Nicholson 7-11 12, Makenna Benbrook 2-4 2, Allix Larsen 1-2 3.