Lady Trojans open postseason play Friday

After finishing the conference season in second place, the Whitehall High School girls basketball team will open postseason play this week at the 5B District Tournament in Belgrade.

The Lady Trojans will receive a bye in the first round and open the tournament with a Friday matchup between the winner of third-seeded Three Forks and sixth-seeded Manhattan. The game is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at the Belgrade Events Center.

Whitehall wrapped up their regular season last week with two close losses, a 27-26 on the road Friday against Townsend, and 51-48 Saturday at home against Manhattan Christian.

Head Coach Kelly Nieskens said it's the time of the year where it is about situational basketball.

"We are getting down to those games where every possession counts, and it comes down to those little things. Whoever is doing those right usually wins," he said. "The last two nights we just gave up too many rebounds on the offensive boards. They both had big girls but that really hurt us," he said.

Whitehall was without star guard Brynna Wolfe Saturday who was sick. Nieskens said with it being right before the tournament they thought it was important for her to stay home and get healthy, and not get the other kids sick.

The Saturday game was senior night for the Lady Trojans and Nieskens said the group of girls has been awesome.

"It's definitely a special group. This is my first group of seniors and it's good to see them growing and becoming successful," he said.

Whitehall was led is scoring against Townsend by Jada Clarkson with 11 points. Asha Noyes added four, Meagan Johnson and Wolfe each had three, and Britney Welker and Maxine Hoagland each added two.

Clarkson also led the team in scoring against MCHS with 13. Ashlynn Ellison added 11, Johnson and Hoagland both had seven, Noyes finished with six and Kendra Klapan added two points.

The winner of the Friday game at the district tournament will move on the finals Saturday at 7:30 p.m. The loser will play in an eliminator game Saturday at 10:30 in Manhattan.