Lady Trojans take down Townsend, fall to top-ranked Missoula Loyola

The Whitehall High School girls basketball team split a pair of home games last week.

The Lady Trojans (8-2, 4-1 5B) picked up a hard-fought 57-47 win Thursday night against Townsend and fell 56-40 Saturday against top-ranked Missoula Loyola.

It was a back and forth battle in the first three quarters against the Lady Bulldogs. Townsend took a 9-8 lead at the end of the first quarter and would extend the lead to 18-13 before consecutive threes by Jada Clarkson and Brynna Wolfe gave the Lady Trojans their first lead of the quarter.

Tied 25-25 at the break, Whitehall's Meagan Johnson would help keep her team in the game in the third quarter with six consecutive points.

Head Coach Kelly Nieskens said Johnson is a fireplug for the squad.

"When she gets fired up and gets rolling, it gets the other girls going. She's all over the place and they see her playing that intense and it really bring up their level of play," he said.

The two teams would once again find themselves tied (35-35) at the end of the third before Whitehall put the game away with a dominant quarter and would push the lead to 44-36 after Wolfe and Clarkson once again hit back to back threes.

"It's a mentality thing. You see one girl hit a three and get excited, then the bench gets excited, and then the other players get rolling. It's definitely a boost, especially later in the game," Nieskens said.

Clarkson led the team with 18, Johnson had 15, and Wolfe was also in double figures with 10.

Following the game, Nieskens praised his team for wearing down the Lady Bulldogs.

"That's kind of been our thing this year. We've been able to pressure hard for three quarters and by the fourth, a lot of teams get worn down and we really kind of thrive on seeing them taking a little break," he said.

Maxine Hoagland added seven, Jacy Johnson had four, and Britney Welker finished with three points.

Nieskens lauded the play of Hoagland who missed the 2019 portion of the schedule due to injury.

"This is the best she has played all year, and this is also the healthiest she has been. She was really focused coming into this week and ready to play. She knew she'd have a big challenge against Townsend, and she held her own," Nieskens said.

In the Saturday matchup against the Lady Breakers, Whitehall fell behind 29-20 at half and 41-26 at the end of the third quarter.

Wolfe led the team with 13, while Clarkson and Johnson each added eight.

Whitehall will return to the road this week with games scheduled Thursday, January 23 in Anaconda and Friday, January 24 at Boulder.

Nieskens said the team is still playing sloppy with the basketball at times and allowing teams to capitalize on turnovers.

"That's something we've got to focus on and clean up," he said.