A narrow loss and then a blowout loss were on the menu for the Plains Trotters girls basketball team at the Ronan Tip-off Event this past weekend.

Friday the Trotters opened the event and their 2021-22 season with a game against the tall and quick Ronan Maidens JV team and took the host team to the final minutes before falling 37-34.

The next day they took on a veteran, equally tall team, the Seeley Lady Blackhawks, and were hammered 65-17 to go 0-2 for the event.

But through it all there were signs of promise for better things to come, at least in their game against Ronan JV.

They returned an experienced group of juniors who are now seniors, including guard Kaylah Standeford and Krstenna Boes.

Both had solid games against the Maidens in which the entire Trotters team showed no signs of quitting in the clutch.

Ronan took an early lead in the game and both teams battled first game jitters and stingy defenses. At the end of the first quarter, Ronan held a slim 10-8 lead. With shots suddenly not falling for Plains, the Maidens put together a pair of short runs that propelled them to an 18-10 halftime lead.

In the third quarter, Plains put together a run of its own that culminated with them taking the lead, 19-18 on a two-pointer by Standeford. By the end of the quarter, Ronan clung to a narrow 21-19 lead.

The fourth quarter saw leads narrow and change until the final minute of play when the Maidens forged a four-point 37-33 lead that was just enough to ice the victory in what turned out to be one of the better games during the two-day event.

The next night was a totally different game to say the least.

Seeley jumped out to a quick 17-4 lead by the end of the first quarter and added to it the rest of the way.

The worst of the lead padding occurred in the second quarter when nothing fell for Plains and Seeley won the quarter 8-0 to increase their lead to 25-4 at the half.

By the end of the third quarter the Lady Blackhawks were ahead 49-11 and wrapped up the lopsided win by outscoring Plains 16-2 in the final quarter.

The Trotters went 0-2 for the event while Seeley recorded a 2-0 mark.

The Plains boys didn’t fare any better with the Horsemen, a team of freshmen and sophomores falling 44-16 in the opener Friday, then losing by a lopsided margin to Seeley Saturday night.

Plains is now off until the 17th of December, Friday, when they will host Sanders County rival Thompson Falls. They will then travel to Troy the next evening to take on the Lady Trojans.