Whitefish comeback falls short in OT against Lady Pirates

The Whitefish girls battled back against their Northwest A basketball opponent Polson on Tuesday, Jan. 9, but ultimately fell on the road 45-41.

“It was our first game in three weeks, and we came out slow and very rusty looking,” Whitefish Head Coach Bob Bolam said. “We got behind in the first half but were able to stay close.”

In a back-and-forth game, the Lady Pirates jumped out to a 9-3 lead in the first quarter and went into halftime with the score 16-10. Whitefish shaved off two points from Polson's lead in the third quarter and outscored Polson 11-7 in the fourth to push the game into overtime.

“In the second half, we slowly came back and finally took our first lead of the game late in the fourth quarter,” Bolam said. “I don't think we did a lot differently other than we got a couple of turnovers and made them count with some points. It was really back and forth the entire fourth quarter. In fact, it took a long-range three-pointer by Ainsley Scott to tie up the game as we went to overtime.”

Bolam also noted if Whitefish didn’t struggle at the free throw line, it possibly wouldn’t have gone into overtime. The Lady Bulldogs were 9-for-26 from the free-throw line. It was the free throws in overtime that affected the outcome as well.

“We were 0-for-2 from the line, and they were 4-for-6,” Bolam said. “We lost by four points. The good thing is that we can improve in that area, and I know we will.”

The Lady Bulldogs got 10 points from Ainsley Scott, nine from Yoli Krastev, and eight from Bailey Smith. Jude Perry also scored seven.

“I really thought Ainsley Scott, with ten points, came out looking to make a difference and played well for us,” Bolam said. “Also, a good performance by Yoli Krastev, who scored all nine of her points in the second half and overtime when we really needed that boost from someone.”

The win was the Lady Pirates' first conference victory of the season and improved their overall record to 4-5. Whitefish fell to 3-4 on the year and 0-1 in conference play.

“We need to play confident basketball and rely on our Seniors to lead the way as we finish out the season,” Bolam said. “We have played only one conference game so everything is still in front of us. We just need to get some games in and a bit on a roll.

Bolam noted that due to scheduling and cancellations, Whitefish has only played one game since December 19.

“That is not ideal,” Bolam said. “So, we look forward to getting some games in.”

At Polson
POLSON 45, WHITEFISH 41
Whitefish - 3 - 7 - 14 - 11 - 6 - 41
Polson - 9 - 7 - 12 - 7 - 10 - 45
WHITEFISH SCORING - Ainsley Scott 10, Yoli Krastev 9, Bailey Smith 8, Jude Perry 7, Charlize Ullrich 5, Madi Gordon 1, Carmella Alfieri 1