ST. IGNATIUS – The Arlee Scarlets kept fending off Stephanie Lewandowski and a feisty Lady Bulldogs team just enough to hold on to a 46-41 win Saturday night in St. Ignatius.  

Mahalia Hendren scored 19 points and Whitney Malatare added 11 for the Scarlets, winners of 13 of their last 14 games.  Although the score and game were close, Arlee coach Richard Bachmeir and his Scarlet’s weren’t panicking.  “We felt very comfortable, even when [St. Ignatius] made their run,” said Coach Bachmeir.  “We knew we had control throughout the game.”  

But the Lady Bulldogs pestered the Scarlet’s all night getting as close as three points in the third quarter.  The Scarlets have benefited all season from a balanced scoring attack, getting contributions aspects.  “Tayla Desjarlais really set the tempo early by hitting a couple of big three’s for us early,” said Coach Bachmeir.  “We are so deep, you really can’t single one player out on our team.”

Again, Stephanie Lewandowski carried the load offensively for the Lady Bulldogs with 23 points.  The second part of St. Ignatius’ scoring paradigm, Loren Erickson, was limited to just two points and the Lady Bulldogs were unable to leap over that last hurdle and steal the win over visiting Arlee.  Erickson’s atypical scoring night inflicted damage on St. Ignatius’ offense, exactly what the Scarlets set out to do.  

“Our game plan going into the game was to stop one of the two,” said Coach Bachmeir, referring to the containment of either Erickson or Lewandowski.  “We did a good job in stopping both of them the first three quarters, but then we put Lewandowski on the foul line and you can’t do that against good ball players.”  But Lewandowski’s second half effort wasn’t enough and the Lady Bulldogs suffered another heart wrenching defeat.  

St. Ignatius fell to Loyola Sacred Heart Thursday night 48-42, making it two losses this week totaling just 11 points.  Lewandowski – 24 points – and Erickson – 14 points – scored 38 of the Lady Bulldogs 42 points.  The only other Lady Bulldog to score was Haley O’Hern with 4.  The Loyola loss is a testimony that Mission desperately needs other players besides Erickson and Lewandowski to step up in order for them to consistently win.  The two losses drops St. Ignatius to 1-5, 5-10 and will face the Maidens in Ronan Thursday night.  

As for the Scarlets, the victory sustained their winning ways throughout an impressive 2012-13 campaign.  Arlee coasted in Thursday nights win against Noxon 74-38, as the Scarlets seem to be getting stronger as the season goes on.  Malatare scored 26 of her teams 74 points, the highest point total for the Scarlets all year.  “[The Red Devils] kept leaving Malatare open, she has a good shot and was shooting well that night, she was hot,” said Coach Bachmeir.  

The Scarlets took a 40-20 lead after two quarters.  The next 16 minutes, Arlee went on cruise control to secure the 36-point win. 

Arlee 10-0, 13-3 clinched the District-14 C division with the win, but will face a tough Lady Vikings team Friday in Charlo.