Gabi, Addy D, Solveig, Annalise and Emma will have to hold down the fort until Aubrey and Addy T return. And oh yeah, Audrey, just a freshman, might have something to add to this Thompson Falls girls basketball story too.

The full names of those in question are Gabi Hannum, Addy Deal, Solveig Nygaard, Annalise Fairbank, Emma Claridge, Aubrey Baxter, Addy Traver and Audrey Fairbank, and their collective goal is to get healthy enough and familiar enough with each other to get together and form another great team. Like they did last year when fighting their way through a tough District 7B regular season and then claiming second place in the 7B tournament after dropping a heart-stopping, overtime decision to homestanding Mission in the tourney title game.

Although the loss of that game hurt the Lady Hawks emotionally, it also hurt them physically as Baxter, then a sophomore, suffered a knee injury in the first half, an injury which later required surgery, taking her out of action for several months. For her part, Addy T, also then a sophomore, was playing the best basketball of her career when she injured her knee early in the season last winter.

Looking forward to finally putting his whole, healthy and hearty crew together on the floor once more, coach Mike Tessier says he anticipates the return of both Baxter and Traver in several weeks, but thinks the girls he does have should be able to tread water just fine until then.

The Thompson Falls Lady Hawks open season in the Shelby Tournament, playing Malta Friday and Chinook Saturday. Thompson Falls’ first home game is December 19 with Anaconda.

“We look forward to getting everyone back, to being whole again,” Tessier said. "The prognosis is good for getting Aubrey and Addy back and, in th meantime we have been looking good in practice. The games in Shelby will be good ones for us to see where we are.”

Having District 7B All-Conference performers Hannum, Deal and Nygaard will most certainly help. Hannum and Deal are also returning All-State B selections. “And Solveig was

within a few votes of being named All-State too,” Tessier said. “We have three of the best players in Western B, happy to say, and think we will be competitive again this year.”

One year after a series of epic meetings with Mission where each team won by four points on the other’s home court, and then went on to that apocalyptic overtime game for the ages in the 7B championship, Tessier thinks the Lady Hawks and Lady Bulldogs are not quite done fighting this out yet.

“They have everyone back and we have pretty much everybody back,” he said. “It could make for some more very interesting basketball games this year.”

One factor affecting all 7B teams is the fact that there will be no chance for a 7B championship game like last year’s as the district will not have a tournament this season.