A benefit of experience is often consistency. And, logically, it would follow that less experience often leads to inconsistency.

For the Plains High School boys and girls basketball teams, the latter was on display this past week in a brutal slate of games against the top tier of Western 7B conference opponents.

And less experience resulted in three losses for both the Horsemen and Trotters, who before the Holiday break had won more games in a few weeks than either team did all of last year.

The boys opened the week with a 3-3 overall record, having chalked up wins over Hot Springs, Superior and Troy. The sophomore dominated Horsemen ended the week 3-6 after falling to Florence-Carlton 57-23 and St. Ignatius 69-41 at home, and losing to Eureka 54-14 on the road.

Plains opened their week last Tuesday with by falling behind 19-13 after one quarter of play versus St. Ignatius, a deficit that grew to 35-17 by halftime. The Bulldogs rode the scoring of Zoran LaFrombois, who had a game-high 27 points, as they kept up the offensive and defensive pressure throughout the night on their way to a comfortable 7B win in Plains.

Friday night, the Horsemen took to the road for a game with the Eureka Lions, who pounced on them early and never looked back. Eureka outscored Plains 20-2 in the first quarter on their way to a 26-7 halftime lead.

The host Lions then limited Plains to seven second half points, including zero tallies in the final quarter as they pulled away from the Horsemen. Eureka forward Trent Truman led all scorers with 15 points while Lions teammate Braden Casazza, a 6-5 junior center, added 14.

Eduardo Perianez topped Plains with six points.

The Horsemen returned to their home court Saturday night for a game against Florence-Carlton. Once again Plains fell behind early, 13-5 after the opening period of play, and could not mount a serious challenge as the Falcons built a 24-10 lead at the half, then finished the game by outscoring the host team 18-3 in the final quarter.

The Trotters, who have three seniors and a promising group of three juniors and four sophomores on the varsity roster, played Florence-Carlton tight in the first quarter, trailing 10-7 after the first eight minutes of play. But the Lady Falcons exploded in the second quarter, outscoring Plains 21-1 to take a 31-8 halftime lead.

Florence finished the game with an 8-1 fourth quarter advantage on their way to the lopsided 57-16 victory. The Trotters entered the week with a 2-4 overall record after being winless last year, having beaten Hot Springs and Troy before the semester break.

Friday night the ladies hit the road for a game against the Lady Lions of Eureka where, like the boys team, they fell behind big in the first quarter, trailing 15-2. The Lady Lions expanded on their early lead to take a 33-12 halftime lead, which proved to be more than the Trotters could overcome as they fell 57-28.

Eureka had three players score in double figures, paced by the 12 points from Kara Stanger.

A bright spot for the Trotters continued to be the solid play of sophomore forward Lexi Deming, who gave Plains some badly need scoring and rebounding. Deming tossed in 11 points, mostly from beneath the basket, to lead the Trotters in scoring.

Plains opened the week with a home loss to St. Ignatius, which upped their season record to 3-1 with the big win over the Trotters.

The Lady Bulldogs took control early as they amassed a 45-11 halftime lead, then used their stingy defense to limit the Trotters to four second half points and coasted to the 7B win.

Plains’ teams have just two games this week, including a game tonight (Tuesday) against Loyola in Missoula. They return to their home court Thursday to take on Arlee.