Seeley claims twin heart-breaker wins in Drummond

DRUMMOND – It wasn’t the night the home teams were hoping for, but for basketball fans it was one exciting night.

The Seeley Swan Blackhawks avenged a pair of first-round losses Friday night in Drummond, with the Boys holding off a late Trojan run and the Girls winning in overtime.

Girls Varsity Basketball

Seeley Swan 53, Drummond 42 (OT)

It was the tightest game of the year for the Lady Trojans, who led until the final minutes of the third quarter when Seeley’s Emily Maughan put in a rebound that gave them edge. Drummond battled back and eventually held a two-point lead with 47.7 seconds to play when birthday girl Bailey Parke drained a three-pointer.

But with just 14.8 seconds left in regulation, Seeley’ Kyla Conley missed a shot that Maughan collected and put back in to tie the game and eventually force overtime.

In the extra session, it was all Lady Blackhawks as Maughan and Conly combined to score 14 points and secure the victory.

“We just were’t on our game offensively today. We weren’t on our defensively today,” said DHS Head Coach Nate Bignell. “We’ll do better next time.

“Lexi (Nelson) got hot at the beginning and we never got her the ball. We have to do a better job of finding the hot person and getting them the ball after that.”

Nelson finished with eight points, all in the first quarter.

8th grader Remington Cline led the scoring for Drummond with 14 points, 10 rebounds and five steals. She was missed to a degree in the game’s final minutes after a collision with Maughan while going after a pass on a press break. She eventually returned but seemed out of sorts the remainder of the game.

“”We’re going to get better from this. You can learn a lot from a loss,” added Bignell in looking ahead toward the postseason. “I look forward to playing them again, and we will.”

The loss drops Drummond into a tie with Seeley for first place, but since the Lady Trojans hold the tiebreaker they remain District 13C’s top team heading toward the postseason.

The Lady Trojans have two games left on their district schedule – at Granite Feb. 3 and hosting Victor Feb. 4. Seeley has three remaining games against Granite, Valley Christian and Darby. Those games will play a big part in the final seeding for the District 13C Tournament starting Feb. 16 in Hamilton.

SCORING

Seeley Swan – 5/10/10/14/14 – 53

Drummond – 13/6/5/15/3 – 42

Seeley Swan – Maughan 17, Boyd 2, Alexander 7, Conley 17, Thornsberry 7, Gleason 2, Sexton 1

Drummond – Parsons 6, Nelson 8, Hicks 5, RCline 14, CCline 2, Perry 7

Junior Varsity Girls

Drummond 27, Seeley 25

Tied 25-25 with seconds left to play, Hazel Sawfer sent a shot toward the basket that banked off the glass and snaked its way through the net for the game-winning score.

Sawfer finished with seven points while teammates CyLeigh Langton and Charlee Cline each had eight.

Boys Varsity Basketball

Seeley Swan 51, Drummond 49

Drummond experienced another one of its lapses where, as DHS Head Coach Levi Parsons characterized it, “We played like we just didn’t care.” That lapse led to a 16-point deficit midway into the third period that proved to be just too much to recover from.

The loss drops Drummond to 8-2 in District 13C play and is their second straight defeat.

“I don’t even know what’s going on with them today,” reflected Parsons on the loss. “They just lost motivation in the second quarter.”

The Trojans came out strong to open the game, making solid passes, playing good defense, and purposefully getting the ball into center Trey Phillips. But Seeley flipped the switch in the second, stopping the entry passes into the low post and getting hot from outside. Guards Ben Haley and Nic Little Coyote combined for 15 of the Blackhawks 24 points in the period while Drummond managed just seven.

Parsons added, “They scored a couple of buckets and we just seemed to lose motivation. They ran up 24 points to our seven and that was the game right there.”

Drummond worked its way back from the 16-point margin to trail by five with under a minute to play. That’s when Phillips got the ball at the post and whipped a no-look pass to Michael James who head-faked a defender and dropped in the layup for his points of the game.

The next possession Phillips was fouled and made both free throws to bring the Trojans within a point, 50-49.

Haley and Connor Matthew each had two free throws in the final six seconds, with the latter getting the only make of the four to keep the game within reach. But with three seconds after his made second free throw, Drummond got the ball to Kadin Graveley who cast up a Hail Mary that didn’t find its mark.

Phillips finished with 21 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks on the night. Brody Rasor and Colt Parsons each added 11.

SCORING

Seeley Swan – 8/24/7/12 – 51

Drummond – 14/7/10/18 – 49

Seeley Swan – Haley 18, Little Coyote 7, Kovatch 12, Matthew 14

Drummond – Rasor 11, Parke 2, Parsons 11, James 2, Phillips 21, Dunkerson 2