Lady Dogs look ahead after tough week
Gracie Smyley goes hard in the paint during Saturday's home loss to Hamilton. (Daniel McKay/Whitefish Pilot)
Jadi Walburn attacks the lane during Saturday’s home loss to Hamilton. (Daniel McKay/Whitefish Pilot)
Payton Kastella drives to the basket during Saturday's home loss to Hamilton. (Daniel McKay/Whitefish Pilot)
Jadi Walburn launches an elbow jumper during Saturday's home loss to Hamilton. (Daniel McKay/Whitefish Pilot)
Hope Brown skies for the out-of-bounds save during Saturday's home loss to Hamilton. (Daniel McKay/Whitefish Pilot)
Payton Kastella lines up a corner jumpshot during Saturday's home loss to Hamilton. (Daniel McKay/Whitefish Pilot)
It was a tough week for the Lady Dogs, who dropped games at home and on the road.
The week didn’t start hot for the Lady Dogs, who fell to Ronan 58-26 on Tuesday.
Whitefish kept pace through one quarter, trailing only 11-8 after 8 minutes, but then Ronan got hot.
The Maidens responded with 22 second-quarter points to open the lead up to 33-13, and from there they didn’t look back.
Jadi Walburn and Hope Brown were Whitefish’s top scorers with 7 points apiece, while Mikenna Ells and Gracie Smyley each added 4 points of their own.
Then heartbreak struck on Thursday against Eureka.
Down 25-21 heading into the fourth, the Bulldogs cut the game down to a 30-30 tie with seconds remaining.
Then, as the buzzer sounded, Eureka’s Micahel Shea nailed a three to give the Lions the win.
Shea scored 11 for the Lions, while Walburn led all scorers with 12.
Head coach Bob Bolam said the loss had some positives. “We just couldn’t hit a free throw or bucket at the end to put ourselves ahead,” he said. “To lose at the buzzer was tough, but we like the fact that we were in the game and had our chances to win.”
The team looked to rebound on Saturday, when they hosted Hamilton, but a Broncs’ surge in late in the second quarter shut that down.
Despite Hamilton coming out with an 8-0 lead to start the game, the Lady Dogs brought the deficit to 15-11 after eight minutes were up.
A run in the final minutes of the second quarter opened the lead up to 14. Whitefish made some progress in the third, cutting the deficit down to just 9 points, but the Broncs closed things out in the final frame.
Walburn and Smyley both scored 12 points for the team, while Ells added seven.
Bolam said his team was streaky in that game, starting out cold and getting hot before cooling off again.
“Hamilton’s a really good team that’s won some big games this year. We started out slow, fought back in the second quarter and then got a little sloppy just before halftime,” he said. “We were still within single digits with four minutes to go. Against a good team like that, it was very encouraging.”
The team will get a chance to breathe after their busy week, with their only upcoming game coming at home on Friday against Polson.
The team has their lone win of the season against the Pirates, and Bolam said he’s looking at Friday’s matchup as a momentum-builder.
“The first time we played them we were without Jadi and Kali and we still managed to play well and get a win. I’m hoping with those two back that we can execute even better. I hope we can play well and use that going forward into next week when we play Libby,” he said.
That game will start at 6 p.m.
Ronan 11 22 11 14 — 58
Whitefish 8 5 5 8 — 26
Whitefish — Walburn 7, Wilde 2, Kastella 2, Ells 4, Smyley 4, Brown 7.
Whitefish 8 2 11 9 — 30
Eureka 9 6 10 8 — 33
WHITEFISH — Jadi Walburn 12.
Hamilton 15 16 10 17 — 58
Whitefish 11 6 15 9 — 41
WHITEFISH — Jadi Walburn 12, Taylor Means= 3, Payton Kastella 5, Mikenna Ells 7, Alivia Ingold 2, Gracie Smyley 12.