Lady Falcons claim victory over Corvallis girls
by DAVID ERICKSON - Ravalli Republic
The Florence Lady Falcons used a dominant first half to take down the Corvallis girls basketball team 37-33 on Saturday night at Florence. Head coach Bryan Neuman isn’t quite ready to crown his squad yet, however.
“Well, any win at this time of the season is pretty good, but we have a lot of things to iron out,” he said. “When you go out and beat a Class A team, it’s a good thing. I don’t think we played that great. We have been turning the ball over a little too much. We are a work in progress.”
The Florence girls outscored the Lady Blue Devils 15-7 in the first quarter, and took an 11 point lead into halftime.
“That’s a pretty good half for us,” Neuman said. “But in the third quarter, we got complacent. I had to send a message to my starters that we need to get our act together.”
In the third quarter, the Corvallis girls were able to tie the game with a 13-2 run. Finally, the Lady Falcons tightened up on defense in the fourth quarter and held on for a thrilling victory in front of the home crowd.
“They played a lot better in the fourth quarter,” Neuman said. “Our defense has been a staple for us the last few years, and we will have to rely on that. We are not great shooters. We like to get the ball up and down the floor, but that’s where ball security comes in. We get a lot of our points of press, and I’d like to see our half-court offense get going.”
Odessa Conley, a returning starter for the Lady Falcons, scored a game-high 17 points. Rosie O’Brrien dropped seven, and Taylor Sheperd added five. Brittany Heinz each had four points apiece.
Neuman said that although he has a team with some height, he is still developing team chemistry.
“Well, Taylor Shepard moved back here this year, and Kayla Johnson has no varsity experience,” he said. “Odessa Conley is a player that we are really relying on for varsity experience.”
Neuman said Loyola and Bigfork will be the teams to beat in Class B this year.
“We are shaping up to be one of those two teams to go to state,” he said. “Our goal every year is to make it to the state tournament. This is my eighth year. We haven’t made it every year, but we typically play our best basketball come tournament time.”
For Corvallis, Megan Auch and Coral Higuera led all scorers with 11 points apiece. Korie Conder dropped seven, and Kelsey Lemon and Whitney Cranmore both had two points.
Corvallis 7 5 13 8 - 33
Florence 15 8 2 12 - 37
CORVALLIS - Kelsey Lemon 2, Whitney Cranmore 2, Coral Higuera 11, Megan Auch 11, Korie Conder 7.
FLORENCE - Brittany Heinz 4, Abby Mytty 4, Taylor Sheperd 5, Odessa Conley 17, Rosie O’Brien 7.
Elsewhere,
Stevensville 4 9 8 12 - 33
Butte Central 11 16 13 8 - 48
STEVENSVILLE - Alexa Omlid 2, Blair Broookshire 6, Alycia Sims 14, Brekka Johnson 5, Lindsey Thorstad 1, McKenzie Sebastian 2, Lakyn Connors 3.
Hamilton 7 10 12 14 - 43
Frenchtown 12 13 14 11 - 50
HAMILTON - Misha Trotter 6, Kaurie Albert 4, Jill Harmon 3, Rachel Hudson 2, Rebecka Hood 4, Meghan Kratofil 5, Annie Shcultz 19.
Class B
Plains 14 7 14 6 - 41
Darby 6 15 9 21 - 51
DARBY - Halie Rennaker 5, Rachel Wetzsteon 9, Julie Abrahamsen 17, Sarah Jakober 17, Mindy Ruby 3
Friday’s results:
Hamilton 13 5 8 4 - 30
Ronan 1 7 7 2 - 17
HAMILTON - Misha Trotter 6, Kaurie Albert 8, Jill Harmon 3, Annie Schultz 10, Rebecca Hood 3.
Darby 0 14 6 2 - 22
Superior 12 14 10 11 - 47
DARBY - Halie Rennaker 2, Alex Bronk 1, Rachel Wetzsteon 2, Julie Abrahamsen 11, Mindy Ruby 6.
Class C
Victor 0 3 0 0 - 3
Seeley-Swan 22 18 9 15 - 64
VICTOR - Rachael Borowic 2, Brooke Hochhalter 1.
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