Lady Bulldogs struggle with tough week on the court
Whitefish junior Kristina Shestak gets out on a fast break against Ronan on Thursday in the second half. (Whitney England/Whitefish Pilot)
The Whitefish girls basketball team played three games last week and came up short in all of them. The girls continue to deal with injuries and a thin roster, which made the busy week especially difficult.
“We’re still down people so it’s made it really tough on the girls, in all of these games we don’t really have much depth,” Whitefish coach Bob Bolam said.
On Tuesday, Jan. 31, Whitefish played in Polson. A flat second and third quarter made it hard to come back as the Bulldogs lost 51-34. Though offense was a struggle in the game, Whitefish junior Jude Perry had a game-high 15 points to lead the Dogs. Bailey Smith added 9 points and Brooke Roberts had 7 points.
Then on Thursday, Senior Night in Whitefish, the team faced Ronan. Though Whitefish stuck with the Maidens through the first quarter, a huge 20-point second quarter for Ronan set the home team behind at halftime. The deficit was too large to overcome and Ronan won 47-27. Smith led in scoring in the game with 13 points.
“We just couldn’t score enough,” Bolam said. “Second quarter’s been kind of killing us but that’s just from the lack of depth and putting in subs that haven’t played a lot.”
Whitefish finished the week out in Cut Bank on Friday. The Lady Bulldogs never really got going in the game and lost 60-22. Only three Whitefish players scored in the game, led by Smith’s 9 points.
Whitefish is now 4-10 overall this season.
Bolam hopes to get a few more girls healthy and ready to play as they head into the final week of the regular season.
Whitefish is scheduled to play in Libby on Friday at 6 p.m. and in Columbia Falls on Saturday starting at 5:30 p.m.
Whitefish 10 6 6 12 - 34
Polson 16 13 11 11 - 51
WHITEFISH — Brooke Roberts 7, Madi Gordon 2, Jude Perry 15, Bailey Smith 9, Kristina Shestak 1.
POLSON — Julia Barnard 14, Mila Hawk 8, Nikki Kendall 3, Grace Simonich 9, Nevaeh Perez 5, Samantha Rensvold 4, Natalie Adams 3, Ashtyn Wanger 5.
Ronan 9 20 11 7 - 47
Whitefish 5 2 10 10 - 27
RONAN — Arianna Zepeda 6, Olivia Heiner 6, Lauren Buhr 12, Leina Ulutoa 16, Kaydance Santos 2, Kylie Fetui 4, Bella Devereaux-Trahan 1.
WHITEFISH — Bailey Smith 13, Jude Perry 7, Brooke Roberts 5, Rya Hirsch 2.
Whitefish 5 4 7 6 - 22
Cut Bank 9 17 21 13 - 60
WHITEFISH — Brooke Roberts 8, Jude Perry 5, Bailey Smith 9.
CUT BANK — Destini Anderson 14, Kendra Spottedbear 15, Darci Littrell 2, Mackenzie Johnson 4, Aliyah Cruz 19, Makenna Burke 6.