Lady Dogs take down Polson in squeaker
<p>Anissa Brown goes up for a shot Saturday in a game against Polson at Whitefish.</p>
Haley Nicholson was having a quiet night on the court Saturday. But with four minutes to go against Northwest A foe Polson, the Whitefish junior simply took over.
Nicholson buried a 3-pointer, tying the game at 29-29. Then in the waning seconds, she tipped Polson’s inbounds pass and got a ball off to Coral Schulz, who converted a free throw to tie the game. Nicholson got another steal on Polson’s next inbounds attempt, this time hitting a pair of free throws to give Whitefish a two-point lead.
Whitefish’s defense held Polson to 2 points in the final frame to come away with a 33-31 victory, marking their first conference win of the season.
“These girls never give up,” said Whitefish coach Ben Johnson. “I’m realizing that they’re able to rise to the occasion. They’ll find a way to fight and get back into it.”
Whitefish outscored Polson in each quarter except the second, which the Pirates won 18-8.
Johnson said Polson’s Nichole Lake got away from Whitefish’s defense in that quarter.
“Our goal was to hold her and we softened up on defense and they got a lot of easy baskets,” he said.
Whitefish regrouped and came out of half time with more energy.
Coral Schulz hit a key fadeawy to end the third quarter and pull Whitefish within five points. Dani Douglas opened the fourth with a nice left hand scoop shot to cut the margin to three.
Cailyn Ross led the team with eight points while also bringing down eight boards. Coral Schulz had 10 rebounds and five points.
Anissa Brown finished with six rebounds and four points for a strong outing.
“She’s earning those extra minutes,” Johnson said. “Extra hard work pays off, and she’s done that.”
“I like our team concept,” Johnson added. “Each night it’s someone else stepping up to carry us.”
Johnson is pleased to get that first conference win.
“Any conference win is good, but the first one brings a little relief,” he said. “Hopefully, it give us a boost down the stretch.”
Whitefish (5-7, 1-2) played at Bigfork on Tuesday. They travel to Frenchtown on Thursday.
Polson 4 18 7 2 — 31
Whitefish 8 8 8 9 — 33
POLSON—Marlee Congdon 6, Lauren Lefthand 3, Kaelyn Smith 3, Kyler Lundeen 2, Brenna Clarke 7, Nichole Lake 9, Erin Smpson 1.
WHITEFISH—Dani Douglas 5, Coral Schulz 5, Allie Schulz 2, Anissa Brown 4, Haley Nicholson 5, Makenna Benbrook 2, Cailyn Ross 10.