These are games that technically don’t count, at least for now and not in the Montana high school standings or rankings. 

But the games teams play against schools like Stillwater Christian, a private school near Kalispell, but they are increasingly competitive as are home school organizations who want their students to have sports competitions. 

Last Tuesday, Hot Springs boys and girls journeyed north to take on Stillwater school’s basketball teams with mixed results but good competition. 

The Hot Springs girls beat Stillwater 50-40, but the Savage Heat boys fell in a high-scorer, offensive slugfest, 88-72. 

In the girls’ game, Stillwater took an early lead when they outscored Hot Springs 16-7 in the first quarter. The Lady Heat regrouped and trimmed four points off that lead in the second quarter, leaving the Lady Cougars with a 25-20 lead at halftime. 

Hot Springs erased that lead in the third quarter, outscoring the host team 15-6 and taking a 35-31 lead.  The visitors then added six points to that lead to produce the final, 10-point victory.  Junior guard Kara Christensen led all scorers with 23 points for Hot Springs, which also got 15 points from Lilia Sapanel. 

Stillwater was led in scoring by Jolisa Paolini, who had 14 points.  She was joined in double figure scoring by teammate Belle Zeider, who contributed 13 for the Lady Cougars. 

The win increased Hot Springs’ season record to 7-3, while the loss dropped Stillwater to 1-2. 

The boys' game was a back and forth scoring festival with the home team jumping out to a 25-16 lead after the first eight minutes of play.  But Hot Springs roared back in the second quarter, outscoring the Cougars 20-10 to send the teams into the halftime intermission with Hot Springs ahead 36-35. 

Stillwater tied the game in the third quarter, send the two teams into the fourth quarter knotted at 55-55. 

The Cougars saved the best for last as they exploded for 33 fourth quarter points while limiting Hot Springs to 17 and cementing the 16-point Stillwater victory. 

Hot Springs got a game-high 26 points from senior guard Weston Slonaker, along with 12 points each from Chase Depoe and Wesley Adams. 

Stillwater had six players score in double figures, led by Elijah Linn’s 19.  The win boosted the Cougars to 3-0 on the season, while Hot Springs fell to 2-7 with the loss. 

Next up for Hot Springs is a road game to St. Ignatius for a pair of games against Mission this Friday (Jan 24).  They return to their home court the following day (Saturday) where they will take on Thompson Falls’ boys’ and girls' teams.