Lady Rangers play to win

IONE – The Selkirk High School girls’ basketball team is off to a terrific start, beating Odessa 36-24 Saturday, Dec. 7 at home. Earlier in the week the Lady Rangers beat Valley Christian 51-44 in an away game Friday, Dec. 6, preceded by a home game against Clark Fork Tuesday, Dec. 3 where Selkirk won 66-23.

Selkirk beat Odessa by holding the Tigers to a nine-point freeze in the second half. Leading Selkirk scorers were freshman Millie Rice, senior Maddy Petrich, and eight grader Natalie Nyberg, all with eight points. Leading rebounders were Petrich with 13 and eighth grader Kinley Petrich with nine. Assist leaders were junior Marisa Lyons and Rice, both with three. Lyons also had five steals.

“This was a bit of a frustrating game in that we never seemed to get into a good rhythm,” head coach Kelly Cain said. “We were forcing too many things offensively and never got into a flow on the offensive end. That said, we did not let it affect us on the defensive end.”

It was another victory for Selkirk Dec. 6 when the girls beat the Valley Christian Panthers 51-44. Leading scorers were Rice with 15 points, Petrich with 10 and sophomore Chloe Kardos with 10. Nyberg was a leading rebounder with nine rebounds. Lyons had five assists and Rice had seven seals.

Selkirk was able to get 21 field goals on 16 assists, maintaining their dominance over Valley Christian.

“While we had too many turnovers, we actually did do a decent job of moving the ball and limiting live ball turnovers,” Cain says. “We were also able to force them into 10 more turnovers than we had. That and our quick start, 18-9 in the first quarter, turned the game in our favor.”

In the home game against Clark Fork on Dec. 3 the Rangers trounced the Wampus Cats 66-23. Rice was a leading scorer with 19 points, along with Petrich at 13 and Kardos and Nyberg with 12. Petrich had 11 rebounds and Nyberg had nine. Lyons and Petrich both had five assists and Petrich had three steals.

The Rangers only had nine turnovers throughout the game, Cain says.

“For the second game in a row we eclipsed 70 rebounds,” Cain says. “We’re doing a good job of going after the ball and fighting for rebounds. Maddy Petrich really stepped up and had a good game. She had good energy and did a little of everything.”

Coming up next, Selkirk hosts Republic Friday, Dec. 13, then travels to Northport Saturday, Dec. 14. Both games start after the junior varsity games, which get underway at 3 p.m. The Lady Rangers played Mary Walker (Springdale) in an away game Tuesday after the newspaper deadline. Results from that game will be in next week’s edition.