Saturday was “Pack the House” night at Jefferson High. And the house was…packed, with all manner of purple and gold, pom-poms, tubas and noise. Lots of noise.
Girls
It was high-spirited close to a tough weekend for the Lady Panthers basketball squad, which faced two top-10 teams, including the top school so far in Class B, and came away winless.
The Panthers traveled to Deer Lodge on Friday to take on Powell County High School — and it was tough going from the start. The Wardens ran off the game’s first 9 points, and Rachael Van Blaricom’s three-pointer with 56 seconds left accounted for the only Jefferson points in the first period.
The Panthers held their own in the next two quarters, matching the Wardens with 14 points in the second and actually cutting into the lead in the third. They were down 35-27 entering the final period — but that was as close as it got. Jefferson managed just another three points, and Powell County coasted to a 42-30 non-conference win. Grace Jones led the Panthers with 9 points.
On Saturday the Panthers came up against Townsend High, undefeated at 9-0 — and its star Tavia Rooney, the second-leading scorer in District 5B. The first quarter was even until the last second, when a three-pointer gave the Bulldogs an 11-6 edge. But the Panthers struggled to get anything to fall in the first five minutes of the second period, until Makala Edmisten hit a two with three minutes left. Ashley Pankratz sank a three and VanBlaricom a two to make it 13-25 at the half.
The second half was an even match, with the Panthers outscoring the Bulldogs, 19-17. But they couldn’t make up for that empty stretch in the second quarter, and Broadwater came away with the 42-32 victory. Tavia Rooney tallied 26 of the Bulldogs’ 42 points, while the Panthers were led by VanBlaricom with 15 points and Pankratz with 6.
The Lady Panthers are tied with Manhattan and Three Forks for fourth place in the division. A trip to Whitehall on Friday kicks off the second half of their regular season, and on Saturday the Panthers host Manhattan.
Boys
Jefferson’s boys squad knocked down seven three-pointers and hit 5 of 6 free throws in Deer Lodge — but otherwise, they found it tough going on Powell County’s home court.
The first quarter set the tone as the Wardens went on a 11-3 run, until Avery Stiles hit his second three of the period to close the gap. In the second, Mead Blake stole the ball went the length of the court, put his seemingly sure lay-in spun around the inside of the rim a couple of times and came back out. The panthers pulled to within one, 17-18 on three pointers by Blake and Jaxson Yanzick, but a turnover led to a Warden basket and six-point cushion at the half.
The first 8 points of the third went to Powell County, but the Panthers clawed back with a 9-3 run, capped by a three by Trent McMaster. At at the end of three it was a 10 point game, and Jefferson was still in the game with 4:22 left. But the Wardens capped it off by hitting 9 of 14 free throws to pull out the win, 52-38. Avery Stiles led the Panthers with 14 points, while Bryce Harrington chipped in 13.
The next day, the Broadwater Bulldogs arrived in “Pantherville” for a league counter. Wins and losses are very important in this the second half of the regular season. Both teams are fighting for position leading up to postseason play — and with a win the night before with a win over Whitehall, the Bulldogs held a slight advantage over the Panthers in the standings. With the packed house behind it, Jefferson started out fast. Yanzick began the run with a three, Harrington made it 5-0 with a nice fake that gave him just enough room to get a shot off, and McMaster closed out the first with a another three that gave the Panthers a 15-7 lead. The Panthers upped their lead to 20-11 in the first three minutes of the second, but then the flow turned, and a Bulldog run left them within one at the half. Both teams struggled to score in the third, and the panthers went into the final 8 minutes of play with a narrow 31-28 edge. The fourth quarter was taut. A three by Stiles gave the Panthers some breathing room at 34-28, but a Bulldog run gave them a 39-38 lead with 59 seconds left. Harrington hit a clutch basket in traffic with 45 seconds left, then added a free throw to give Jefferson a three-point lead. The Bulldogs closed the gap to one, keeping fans on the edge of their seats. But a pair of free throws by Stiles made it 43-40 with 16.5 seconds. A lot can happen in 16 seconds in a high school basketball game. In this case, though, the Panthers put on a smothering defense that kept the Bulldogs out of scoring range. When the buzzer sounded, Jefferson had won by three. Five panthers scored; Harrington notched 11, Stiles 10, McMaster and Yanzick 9, and Dalton Rykal 4. Tyson Racht led Broadwater with 12. The win puts the Panthers into a three way tie for third, at 2-3, with Whitehall and Broadwater. At this point, Whitehall holds the tie-breaker over Jefferson, Jefferson hold the tie-breaker over Broadwater and Broadwater holds the tie-breaker over Whitehall — setting up a tough battle as the teams enter the second half of the season.
