Thursday night was a great night to be a Blue Hawks basketball fan.

Both the boys and the girls basketball teams racked up solid wins against Deer Lodge in a pair of Class B encounters in Thompson Falls.

The T Falls boys squared their season record at 3-3 with a big 56-33 win over the Wardens, while the Lady Hawks pulled away in the second half to beat the Lady Wardens 49-40 in a hard-fought battle between Western Class B 6&7 foes.

The boys got the evening rolling in grand fashion Thursday in what initially had the look of a close contest. The Wardens escaped the first quarter with a narrow 8-6 lead.

But the Hawks kicked it up a notch and erased that small lead by outscoring Deer Lodge 16-7 in the second quarter to take a 22-15 halftime lead.

The third quarter was another back and forth scoring situation. After eight minutes of intense basketball, T Falls managed to add two more points to its lead. Entering the final quarter, the Blue Hawks were up 36-29.

The fourth quarter was like a jailbreak for the Wardens, as T Falls broke open a close game on their way to a 20-6 scoring advantage over the final quarter of play.

T Falls had three players score in double figures for the game, paced by Bryson LeCoure’s 19 points. Nick Tessier added 14 for the Hawks, while Max Hannum tossed in 10. Tessier and Braxton Dorscher had a pair of three’s each for Thompson Falls.

Hannum also had a team high nine rebounds for T Falls, which out-rebounded the Wardens 40-30.

Next up for fans was the girls game, which was a back and forth show from the beginning to the end.

The Lady Hawks won the first quarter 10-8, then held on as Deer Lodge stayed on their heels in the second quarter. By halftime, the score stood at 19-18 in favor of T Falls.

The home team created a little breathing room in the third quarter, out-pointing Deer Lodge 16-11 and taking a 35-29 lead into the fourth quarter of play.

T Falls added three more points to its lead in the final period to seal the nine-point win. The Lady Hawks are now 3-2 on the season.

Standout sophomore forward Gabi Hannum led all scorers with 19 points, while Addie Pardee contributed eight for the Lady Hawks.

The Hawks took on Missoula Loyola Friday night.  Those scores will be in the next edition of the Valley Press, which had an early Christmas copy deadline and was unable to report on the Loyola game.

Next up for both Thompson Falls teams is the Holiday break. When they return to play, they take on Mission in T Falls Friday, January 5. They then travel to Charlo for a game with the Vikings the next night (Sat, Jan. 6).