District 3C teams prepare to tournament in Scobey on Thursday

LADY PANTHERS

The Saco-Whitewater Lady Panthers locked down the top seed in the 3C District Tournament in Scobey after destroying the Lustre Christian Lions 67-10 last Friday.

They would however lose a game, 50-38 to top ranked Roy-Winifred Outlaws last Saturday.

Thanks to the team’s strong effort this season, the Lady Panthers earned a first round bye in the tournament, meaning the team will only have to win their first game against the winner of the Lustre Christian and Nashua game Friday at 4:30 p.m. to advance to the Eastern C Divisionals in Wolf Point next week.

The championship for the Lady Panthers will likely be against Scobey who has been itching to beat the Lady Panthers all season.

In the team’s victory against the Lustre Christian Lions, Saco-Whitewater was led by Tatum Moore who had a game leading 25 points.

Larimie Scheffelmear and Jada Sudbrack both had 10 points. Kourtney Simonson and Mickayla Johnson had eight points each. Kayleigh Cummings had four points and Bailey Funk had two points.

“It was a good game, not much of a competition for us, but the JV players got a lot of playing time,” Lady Panther Kayla Howard said. “It was just a fun game to play.”

Over the last few years, the Lady Panthers haven’t lost many games, and to lose 50-38 isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

The team was led by Larimie Scheffelmear who scored 14 points.

Moore had 11 points. Keira Simonson had nine points. Sudbrack and Cummings had two points a piece.

“A lot of our shots weren’t falling and it got to the point where we weren’t doing the little things,” Howard said. “We weren’t boxing out and we kept getting more behind as it went on. It was just tough to keep our heads in the game.”

With shots not falling like they were earlier in the season the Lady Panthers will have to fight to get shots in the paint until the guards start lighting up the perimeter again.

LADY COYOTES

The Dodson Lady Coyotes will see the Frazer Lady Bearcubs in their first round of action at the 3C District Tournament in Scobey.

The game is set to start at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday.

If the Lady Coyotes win their first game they will meet the winner of the Scobey and Opheim game in a semi-final game.

If Dodson makes it to the championship game, they will automatically make it to the Eastern C Divisional Tournament in Wolf Point next weekend.

If they lose to Frazer or in the semi-final game, the team will face elimination. Two loses and the team will go home.

Last Tuesday, the Lady Coyotes played a much better game against Malta’s JV than they did earlier in the year.

Dodson did lose the game 57-43, but the team didn’t quit out-scoring Malta 13-2 in the fourth quarter.

Dodson was led by Janessa Henry, who scored a game leading 26 points.

Jacina Doney scored 12 points. Donna Dale and Wozek Chandler each scored two points. Kyla Racine scored one point.

Malta’s JV squad was led by Eva Harms, who had 18 points. Shay Garfield scored 11 points. Mary Grace Kalal had eight points. DeeDee Johannesen and Sam Mitchell had six points a piece. Raleigh Hunter scored five points. Ella Schye had three points and Maria Brown had two points.

PANTHERS

The Saco-Whitewater Panthers have finished over .500 in 3C basketball after the team’s 39-34 victory against the Lustre Christian Lions last Friday in Lustre.

The win put the Panthers at 7-6 in the district, which was good enough for the fourth seed in the 3C tourney in Scobey.

The Panthers will be matched up against Lustre Christian in game one of the tournament Thursday at 12 noon.

The winner of the game will take on Hinsdale in the semi-final round Friday at 3 p.m. The Raiders are the number one seed in the tournament.

In order for Saco-Whitewater to make it to the Eastern C Divisional Tournament in Wolf Point February 25-28.

In their 39-34 victory against Lustre last Friday, the Panthers were led by Chance Love who had 16 points.

Trace Simonson had eight points in the game. Jeret Warren scored six points. Justin Funk had four points. Channing Mavencamp had three points. Layne Engel had two points.

Saco-Whitewater showed tough defense throughout most of the game, though the team started to slip in the fourth and gave up 14 points after giving up only 15 points in the entire first half and only five in the third.

In order for the Panthers to defeat the Lions for a third time this season, the team will need to remain focused defensively.

If the team sees Hinsdale in the next round, they will need to play a flawless game.

COYOTES

The Dodson Coyotes will open up the 3C District tournament in Scobey against the Frazer Bearcubs, who are the second seed in the district.

Twice Frazer has beaten Dodson handily, however Dodson has been excited about post-season play and hope to play spoiler for the Bearcubs.

The game starts at 3 p.m. on Thursday.

The winner of the game will play Scobey or Nashua depending on who wins or loses. If Dodson wins, they play at 6 p.m. Friday in the semi-final round. If they lose they will play in a loser out game on Friday at noon.

Dodson needs to win at least two games to make it to Eastern C Divisional Tournament in Wolf Point next week.

Dodson has yet to win a game, but they are just as alive as any team. All they need to do is get hot in a hurry.

The team dropped two games last week.

Their first loss was a 52-39 loss to Malta’s JV squad.

Jasper Doney led the Coyotes with eight points. Tyrese Messerly and Cain Wing both had seven points a piece. Lane Walling had two trey giving him six points. David Jaynes also had six points. Steven Ereaux had five points.

For Malta, Cru Darrah led the charge with 16 points. Tel Jensen and Hunter Love had nine points each. Taylor Matthews had six points and Landon VanWichen had six points.

Dodson outscored Malta 14-9 in the fourth quarter, but fell behind 30-20 at halftime and were outscored 13-5 in the third quarter.

Their second loss was a 68-41 loss to Lustre Christian last Saturday.

The Coyotes were led by David Jaynes, who knocked down three treys.

Tyrese Messerly also scored double digits with 12 points. Stephen Ereaux and Cain wing had six points a piece and Jasper Doney had four points.

Dodson fell way behind from the start as Lustre climbed to a 21-2 lead in the first quarter. Though Dodson did a better job keeping pace with Lustre in the second half, the team couldn’t overcome the deficit.

Dodson will absolutely need to avoid losing quarters by double digits if they hope to keep their goal of making divisionals alive. They are once again the smallest numbered team in 3C and by far the youngest, but the Coyotes have shown some “spunk” in games this season.