Lady Pirates cruise past Whitefish

Nicole Davey buried a season-high 28 points and Breanne Kelley added another 10 to lead Polson's high-powered offense to a 64-26 win Dec. 18 over the Lady Bulldogs in Whitefish.

Yet, even amidst a 38-point romping, there was a silver lining for Whitefish.

Sophomore Shelby Backer — who opened the game's scoring with a three-point play on a hard drive to the basket — had a standout performance for the second consecutive game. Backer finished with seven points, including four points in the second period and over half of the of the team's 11 first-half points.

She got into foul trouble, which limited her offensive chances later in the game.

"We have to keep her out of foul trouble," Lady Bulldog coach Sean Duff said. "We need her on the court. Her hustle and aggressiveness are key."

Olivia Nagler, Taylor Havens and Danelle McCully each scored four points.

Whitefish was never competitively in the game, as Polson ran out to an early 5-18 lead behind a dominating performance from Davey. The five-foot 10-inch forward scored 12 points in the opening period to set the tone for the game.

"Most of her (Davey's' points were off rebounds and second-chance points," Duff said. "That killed us. We can't give up 20 offensive rebounds and 30 turnovers and expect to win."

Polson's full-court press challenged the 'Dogs and forced them to cough up the ball multiple times beneath their own basket.

"We're not handling the press very well," Duff said. "We took a little bit of a step backwards."

Duff said playing the first home game of the season at the same time as the University of Montana football championship game probably got into the girls' heads as the home crowd was sparse.

"We can't make excuses," he said. "We have to be ready all the time. We need to play basketball, not worry about things we can't control."

Duff said the team will continue two-a-day practices over Christmas break leading up to their second conference game on Jan. 2 against Ronan.

The team should have two more players on the active roster after the break when Olivia Curtiss and Mariah Kanistanaux return from injuries.

"We are just 0-1 in the conference," Duff said. "Ronan is a winable game and we could be 1-1. I still think we're going to surprise some teams later in the season."