The removal of Alberton’s girls as a schedule opponent due to injuries and other factors left schedulers throughout the 14C conference scrambling for fill-in opponents.

No knock of Alberton’s decision, they did what they felt was best for this year.

But it did set up some interesting match-ups and travel plans.

One of the results was this past Saturday’s Hot Springs boys and girls basketball games.

The Hot Springs boys visited Alberton as scheduled and came away with a 53-28 victory of the Panthers Saturday night.

The Hot Springs girls found a fill-in opponent without a Montana conference or a class rating for the Class C Lady Heat, the Flathead Valley HomeSchool Crusaders. Flathead, a consortium of home school groups in the Kalispell area in terms of sports participation, traveled to Hot Springs and came away with a last minute, 43-41 win over the Lady Heat, who are in the midst of a mid-season slump.

In the Flathead vs Hot Springs game, The visitors jumped out to a surprising and big first quarter lead, wrapping up the first eight minutes of play with a 16-4 lead.

Then, as if a switch was flipped, Hot Springs turned on their defense and posted a 7-0 shutout in the second quarter to cut the Crusaders’ lead to 16-11 at the half.

The two teams battled back and forth in the third quarter with Flathead adding one point to their lead, 32-26 heading into the final quarter.

Hot Springs fought back gamely in the final quarter, outscoring the home school girls 15-11, but it was not enough to overcome the early deficit and a last minute Lady Savage rally fell two points short of tying the game and forcing overtime.

Hot Springs had three players score in double figures, led by 6-0 senior post Lauryn Aldridge’s 13 points. Junior forward Brooke Jackson added 12 to the Lady Heat’s effort and standout guard Kara Christensen, a sophomore, chipped in 11, but it was not quite enough to change the final outcome.

The loss dropped Hot Springs to 2-4 on the year, while Flathead upped it’s record to 2-0, with just one game showing on their schedule so far, a return match versus Hot Springs in Kalispell in February.

In Alberton, junior forward Nick McAllister ruled the roost under the basket, tossing in 22 points, including 10 in the first quarter as the Savage Heat roared off to a 15-6 lead after eight minutes of play.

They kept up the dominant play in the second quarter, despite a valiant effort by Alberton sophomore Shea Fredette, who was also a force in the paint throughout the night. At the half, the Heat held a 32-13 advantage.

Hot Springs outscored Alberton 11-0 in the third quarter to take a commanding 43-13 lead with one quarter to play.

But as has been the case all year for the Panthers, they do not give up and tried to rally from the large deficit by outscoring Hot Springs 15-10 in the fourth quarter. However, the big early scoring hole was too much for the Panthers to climb out of and Hot Springs cruised to the win. The victory snapped a four-game Hot Springs losing streak and left them with a 2-5 overall record.

McAllister’s 22 points proved to be a game high total. He was joined in double figures by junior Weston Slonaker, who threw in 11 points for the visitors. Hot Springs played without senior forward Quincy Styles-Depoe, who was not with the team for the trip to Alberton.

Hot Springs returns to action this weekend with a pair of home games, beginning Friday (Jan 19) against 14C leader Charlo. They then host Noxon Saturday evening (Jan 20) in a pair of crucial conference games.

Alberton hits the road this weekend for a pair of games beginning this Thursday night (Jan 18) in Pablo against Two Eagle River, followed by a road venture to Troy the next evening (Jan 19).