BIGFORK — A couple of slim losses to worthy opponents have put the Mission Bulldogs back on the map. Falling just 48-45 to Troy and 59-45 to Bigfork this past weekend, the Mission boys have shown they can still ball.

The Mission girls beat Troy soundly 36-23, but lost a close one 51-44 to Bigfork. 

On Friday, the Mission boys kicked things off right, gaining a 24-14 lead going into the break.

The first half of the basketball his boys put together impressed Mission head coach James Lozeau.

“Phenomenal,” he said of the effort. “It was awesome.”

But Troy got itself back into it with a huge 21-11 fourth quarter over the Vikings.

“We led the game until the last four minutes,” Lozeau said.

It came down to the last seconds.

With just 18 seconds on the clock, Mission called a time-out.

Looking to take the three that would send things into overtime, the Bulldogs worked the ball out to freshman TJ Cutfinger. The shot didn’t go.

On the defensive end, Lozeau was pleased. His team had held Troy’s top dog, Aaron Palmer, to just seven points in the first half.

Running a 2-2-1, Mission’s press kept Troy at bay during those first two quarters. Using newcomers Cutfinger and Nakota McDonald at the top of the zone, Mission neutralized Troy’s perimeter attack.

But Mission lacked in one area especially, Lozeau said. 

“Our killer was our free throw,” he said. “We were just two for eight in the whole game. Jorren (Gies) missed two crucial free throws there at the end.”

On Saturday at Bigfork, Lozeau felt his players were still a little winded from the Troy game, but played hard and fought hard just the same.

The third quarter is what took the Bulldogs out of that game, when Bigfork made a few treys in a row to put the Eagles’ lead over twenty.

But the Bulldogs rallied back, outscoring Bigfork by 11 in the final quarter.

Mission Senior Jorren Gies led his team with 14.

Mission plays at 7:30 p.m. at Thompson Falls tonight then hosts Plains at 6 p.m. on Saturday.

The Lady Bulldogs took a lot of shots and came up with 25 rebounds in a win against Troy. Senior Mattea Grant led with 13 points, Junior Katie McDonald came up with eight as well.

Mission also forced 32 turnovers, though they didn’t get a lot of transition baskets, Mission head coach Les Rice said.

Nonetheless, Mission setup and did plenty of damage on the scoreboard – Mission owned the middle of the game.

Outscoring Troy 27-14 in the second and third periods combined, they used the rebound put-pack to keep tallying points.

“Our biggest offensive shot was the second shot,” Rice said.

The next night, things were a bit more competitive.

Mission took a lead over Bigfork to start, but the Eagles answered in the second, out-scoring the girls from St. Ignatius 15-8.

“In the second quarter, we put them to the line too many times,” Rice said.

In fact, Mission got a taste of its’ own medicine from the night before, because the suffered another big deficit in the third quarter as well.

“They had a big run in the beginning of the third quarter,” Rice said.  

But Mission didn’t give up.

“We responded and that was good,” Rice said of his team’s comeback attempt. “I was excited to see that.”

Overall, his team had a rough weekend shooting-wise, especially at the free throw line. Asked why, Rice had this to say:

“If I knew I’d be a wise man. We just didn’t shoot them well.”

Mattea led in scoring with 14 and McDonald and sophomore Jonna Grant each had seven.

The Lady Bulldogs host Thompson Falls at 7:30 p.m. on Friday then host Plains at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday for Senior Night.