It was another successful week for the Mission Lady Bulldogs as Class B basketball starts to wrap up. For both Mission and Arlee, it’ll be a tight race going into the 6B and 7B tournaments. 

Here’s how each school did this past week:

Mission Girls 61, Hot Springs Girls 40

The Lady Bulldogs started their victorious week with a home game against Hot Springs on Feb. 10.

It was another showcase of Mission’s offensive efforts as they started off with 18 points in the first quarter. This strong start, along with holding the Lady Savage Heat to just five points, helped catapult the Lady Bulldogs to a hot start.

They only allowed Hot Springs to get nine points in the first half while continuing to score in double digits. The Lady Bulldogs allowed 20 points in the final quarter but their lead was too much for Savage Heat to get past as they won 61-40.

Cora Matt led Mission with 19 points. The contest also took Brooklyn McClure over 100 points in the season and Matt notched 200 steals in her varsity career.

Mission Girls 79, Plains Girls 40

Mission continued their winning streak with a win over Plains on Feb. 13.

This game was truly a test of Mission’s ability to score the basketball. They led early 18-7 with every starter contributing to that total. This well-rounded roster continued its run with a 22-point second quarter and led 40-14 heading to halftime.

The game was mostly over by halftime as Plains could only peak at 16 points in the third quarter. The Lady Bulldogs won 79-40 and extended their win streak to 10 games.

Matt led in scoring again with 18 points. Matt’s teammates in Mary Lamere and Madison Incashola followed that total up with 13 and 12 points, respectively.

Mission leads 7B with a 15-1 overall record and a 6-0 district record. They hold the number one seed and, with just two games left in the regular season, have almost locked that spot up with Thompson Falls just two games behind them.

Plains Boys 57, Mission Boys 55

The Mission boys also played a heartbreaker on Feb. 13 against Plains.

Every game is a must-win for the Bulldogs and it looked promising at the start of this one. Mission led 17-9 after the first quarter with the scoring touch alive and well. However, the Horsemen found the scoring touch too and closed the gap to 31-25 to close out the half.

Even with the Bulldogs' slight lead going into the fourth quarter, they could only muster seven points en route to a close but crushing defeat. Plains scored a game-high 17 points to complete the comeback victory 57-55.

It is a tight race for the top of 7B. The Bulldogs are sitting at second place in their district with a 4-2 conference record. If they can win against the number-one-seeded Eureka Lions, they have a chance at the number one seed.

Darby Boys 60, Arlee Boys 32

Arlee had a tough week as they tried to stay up in the standings with a loss to Darby on Feb. 13.

Darby started off strong with the scoring by leading 21-5, keeping a typically strong Arlee offense to a slow start. Arlee continued to struggle, scoring just eight points in the second quarter.

It was an uphill fight heading into the second half and the Warriors couldn’t find a break. As Darby kept up, Arlee continued to fall just short in a tough loss to a team they had beaten previously this season. The Tigers won 60-32.

Keelan DuPuis and Reese Spotted Eagle led the Warriors with 11 points each.

Anaconda Boys 57, Arlee Boys 50

Arlee’s final game of the week came against Anaconda as the Warriors looking for a revenge win. Unfortunately for them, Anaconda was able to find breaks throughout that Arlee could not. In a game with more back-and-forth than their last matchup, the Warriors fell short with a 57-50 loss.

Arlee now sits at 4-5 in their district and 11-6 in the regular season and firmly in the fourth-place spot to close out the regular season. They will now wait for seeding as the rest of their district finishes up next week.

Both the Arlee girls games against Darby and Anaconda had no published scores by presstime.

    Mission senior Lex LaFrombois goes for a layup over two defenders against Plains on Feb. 13 at Plains High School. (Christa Umphrey Photo)