Playing their hearts out for coach Mike Tessier one final time at good old TFHS, coach and his five senior players put emotions aside long enough to defeat the Lady Wardens 65-41. Now 5-2 in District 7B conference play and 10-7 overall, the Hawks wrap up regular season action with a league game at Eureka Saturday. The Lady Hawks have already qualified for the Western B divisional tournament in Pablo as 7B’s No. 2 seed beginning March 5.

In another non-conference game last week, the Lady Hawks lost 75-37 to Florence, one of the top-rated Class B teams in the state, in Florence Friday.

Tessier had trouble describing what this particular group of seniors, Gabi Hannum, Emma Claridge, Hailey Roofener, Solveig Nygaard and Annalise Fairbank by name, has meant to him these past four years. Some might just call it love, albeit a basketball kind of love.

“It has been my pleasure and privilege to coach these girls,” he said. “We have developed kind of a special bond with all we’ve been through together. It’s about important stuff too, learning about life, not just basketball. I feel so fortunate to have had the chance to work with them and get to know them, and I hope they feel the same.”

The Lady Hawks shook off their sentimental journey’s end by fighting off a pesky Deer Lodge team after their seniors were honored before the game.

Hannum turned in yet another stellar effort in leading the Hawks to the win, scoring 23 points, securing 13 rebounds, passing out four assists and grabbing five steals, Nygaard added 11 points, two rebounds, four assists and a steal, Fairbank 12 points, 11 boards, two assists and four steals, Addy Deal 14 points, nine rebounds, five assists and four steals,

Aubrey Baxter five points, seven rebounds two steals and an assist, Claridge a rebound and two steals and Audrey Fairbank two assists and a steal.

At Florence, Hannum scored 11 points, adding three rebounds and two steals, Deal scored 10 points, 14 rebounds, two assists and three steals, Annalise Fairbank nine points, five rebounds, two assists and five steals, Nygaard four points, two rebounds, three assists and two steals, Baxter two points, three rebounds, two assists and a steal, Claridge one point, one assist and one steal, and Aubrey Fairbank two rebounds, an assist and a steal.

Kendall Meinhold led Florence with 23 points and Maggie Schneiter and Shelby Crocker added 10 apiece.