Whitehall opens conference play with two home wins

With two 5B District home wins last week, the Whitehall High School girls basketball team will take a perfect 5-0 record into the winter break. Sparked by a huge fourth quarter where they scored 24 points Whitehall picked up a hard-fought 62-56 win Thursday or rival Boulder and broke open a close game Friday with a huge second-half performance to come away with a 66-52 victory over Three Forks.

Following the win over the Wolves, Head Coach Kelly Nieskens said the team has been playing a little shorthanded the first few games of the season, but it was really nice to be able to set a tone in December and pick up two early conference wins.

"We were able to get after it in the second half of both games. And I'm glad we were able to finish in the fourth quarter in both games," he said.

The Trojans would trail 15-12 at the end of the first quarter Friday before finally taking a lead they would not relinquish early in the second after a steal and layup from freshman standout Jada Clarkson.

Up 30-24 at the half, the Trojans pushed the pace in the third quarter sparked by the play of senior Britney Welker and Clarkson who combined for 16 of the teams 20 points to push the lead to 50-40 going into the fourth.

It was a monster two nights for Welker who had four three-pointers Thursday and another five on Friday.

"It was great to watch Britney. She has put a lot of time in and it was good to see her shoot with some confidence," Nieskens said.

The third-year coach was pleased with his play from the bench in the win and credited senior Ashlynn Ellison who scored five points against Three Forks.

"It's great to see Ashlynn come in the game and play like that," he said.

The Friday win also marked the return of senior Asha Noyes who played several minutes, her first return to the court since a knee injury last season.

Seeing Noyes on the court and his seniors with success meant a lot to the third year Trojans coach.

"I've been with these girls since they were sophomores and they have really come a long way. They've worked really hard for me," he said.

Clarkson led the way against the Wolves with 19 points, Welker had 15, Brynna Wolfe added 11, Kendra Klapan was also in double figures with ten, Meagan Johnson finished with 6 and Ellison had five.

In the win against Boulder, Wolfe led the team with 16, Clarkson had 16, Welker and Johnson each had 12 and Klapan added five points.

Whitehall (5-0, 2-0 5B) will be off until a Saturday, January 4 road matchup at Big Timber.