Bouncing back from a last-second loss to Sanders County rival Hot Springs, the Plains Trotters got well fast with a 49-30 road win over Troy Friday.

Now 3-2 in District 7B play and 5-6 overall, the Trotters have only one game on tap this week, a District 7B conference counter at another county rival in Thompson Falls Thursday.

Trotter coach Brooks Sanford siad defense was the key to Plains’ success in Troy.

“We held them to two points over the first 14 minutes of the second half so our defense is improving,” he said, adding that Trotter Jaycee Carr did an excellent job of defending Troy’s top scorer Aspen Orr.

Turning in one of her best all-around games ever, Ava Lawyer led Plains to the win in Troy with a rare triple double, scoring 16 points, spearing 17 rebounds and passing out 10 assists, also finding the time to come up with a pair of blocked shots on the defensive end.

Hadyn Rice also had another productive outing, scoring 23 points, pulling down nine rebounds and also blocking a shot. Taryn Meredith and Katelyn Subatch added three points apiece and Reece Merdith and Mila Rivinius two each.

Scoring for Troy was not available.

Against Hot Springs, the Trotters fell way behind early, charged back fiercely in the fourth quarter to briefly take the lead, and then watched Heat senior Kara Christensen hit the game-winning shot at the buzzer.

Sanford was pleased with how his girls responded to adversity against the Heat, it was just simply a matter of being a little too late. “I was proud of how we fought to get back in the game with Hot Springs but it’s a perfect example of how getting in early foul trouble can be hard to overcome,” he said. “Hats off to Hot Springs. They played a solid game and Kara made the big time shot.”

Rice led the Trotters against Hot Springs with 20 points and 12 rebounds, Lawyer added 12 points and eight rebounds, Carr, Rivinius and Subatch three points each, Madi Pfister two and Karissa French one.

Sanford said another highlight of the week was Michael Tatum’s JV Trotters winning Friday in Troy in spite of being down to only three players by the end of the game.