Champions by any other name, the Lady Hawks won third place in the Western B divisional tournament in Pablo Saturday, upending Mission 47-44 in an epic overtime thriller to secure their hard-earned Western B trophy, the first for a Thompson Falls girls team since 2021.

The Lady Hawks got to the consolation through three other tough Western B games, defeating Anaconda 55-33 in the opening round Thursday, playing very well but falling to powerful Missoula Loyola 61-34 in the semifinals Friday, and then eliminating Sanders County compatriots the Plains Trotters 51-34 in loser out play Saturday morning, setting up the big Saturday night confrontation with rival Mission.

And it may have been “just” the Western B consolation but, for the Thompson Falls Lady Hawks and the Mission Bulldogs, this game Saturday in Pablo was much more like a District 7B championship to all the players, fans and student bodies involved.

Capping the season in style, coach Mike Tessier and his Lady Hawks registered their most resounding win right when it counted the most, defeating the powerful Lady Bulldogs, who had not lost to a 7B foe this season, in a spellbinding gem of a game on the biggest stage in Western B basketball. In retrospect, the game may have been the best of the tournament on either side, and was in fact the only overtime game of the three days in Pablo.

The season definitely ended on an upswing for the Lady Hawks in spite of the fact that they did not quite realize the ultimate goal of advancing on to the State B tournament, a very difficult proposition in these days of ultra-good teams in Florence and Loyola in the Western B, two teams expected to compete for State B honors this week.

“I can’t think of a better way to finish the season, it’s about as close to a storybook ending as I could have imagined coming into this tournament,” said Tessier, who has also closed out his highly successful stint as head coach for the Lady Hawks with this team this season. “Between this group of girls and all the parents, grandparents and all our other fans, it has just been great these past several years.

“We built such a special bond during our time together,” he added, “and it’s just so great to see them give themselves something so good to hold on to the rest of their lives, I should say the rest of our lives.”

Florence defeated Missoula Loyola 55-34 in the championship game later Saturday and those two teams will represent the Western B in the State B tourney in Bozeman this week.

Denied their annual 7B conference tournament this year for reasons that remain unclear, the Lady Hawks and Bulldogs finally were able to settle their 7B dispute out on the court. But not without a bunch of exciting back and forth action.

All the Lady Hawks played well in the historic win, but none better than Gabi Hannum and Addy Deal. Addy softened up the Bulldogs with a huge first half and Gabi stuck it to the Dogs all game long and in the end, hitting two clutch free throws with :00.3 seconds remaining to tie the game at the end of the fourth quarter, canning the two-pointer to put the Hawks ahead for good in OT and scoring a game-high 21 points by the time it was over, including an amazing 15 for 18 performance from the free throw line where she was deadly all night.

Hannum was cool, calm and killer from the line at crunch time, never more than at the end of regulation time in the well-played, back-and-forth game between respected rivals.

With Mission leading 43-41 and the clock ticking away its final seconds, Hannum went up for a shot in the key and for like the dozenth time of the game was fouled hard just as the final horn sounded. After huddling up, the refs decided there was three-tenths of a second left when Hannum was fouled and awarded her two free throws.

Although Mission coach Dalton Delaney took a timeout in an attempt to ice Hannum, that tactic didn’t work as Gabi iced the ‘Dogs right back, calmly connecting on both free throws to send the game into OT tied at 43-43.

So, how did Tessier address the game-on-the-line, we-go-home-if-you-miss scenario with his senior star? “I know Gabi likes coffee, I asked her what kind of coffee she liked when she went to Starbucks,” he said. “It lightened the mood in the huddle, the girls laughed. And Gabi buries the free throws, it helps to take your mind off things like that sometimes.”

A starter for the Hawks since she was a freshman, and a player who has now put down well many more than a thousand points during her illustrious Falls hoop career, Hannum was ice right back on Delaney and his Dogs, calmly canning both free throws. Put that in your coffee and drink it.

Once into overtime, Mission’s Sheadon Kain hit a free throw to give the Bulldogs a 44-43 lead with 2:33 left but Hannum again answered for the Hawks with a strong two-pointer inside to put Thompson Falls ahead to stay 45-44 with only 1:19 left.

Forcing a jump on Mission’s end and gaining possession of the ball again, Solveig Nygaard was then fouled with 22.8 seconds remaining and, like Hannum was cool and collected at the line, calmly putting the two charity tosses down to make the score 47-44 Hawks. Thompson Falls impressively converted 18 of 23 free throws in the game. “Seventy-eight percent team free throw shooting will win teams a lot of games,” Tessier offered, citing the entire team’s clutch shooting at the line.

A wild sequence ensued in the closing seconds thereafter as the Bulldogs desperately looked for a 3-point try and the dogged Hawk defense denied, denied and denied until there was no time left. The ball ended up in the arms of Aubrey Baxter in the closing seconds and the Falls

faithful in attendance roared their approval as Tessier and his Lady Hawks rushed on to the court at the final buzzer.

“That’s what I’m talking about,” Tessier yelled in jubilation to the crowd a few times as he and his Lady Hawks celebrated the win over a very good Mission team, one that had defeated Thompson Falls twice during the regular season and perhaps more importantly, in the District 7B tournament championship game, also in a classic overtime game, in Mission last year.

“It is sweet to get this one for sure,” Tessier said. "Mission and us have developed a great rivalry over these last several years and they have had the upper hand for the most part, up to now anyway. So it was great for this team, these seniors to go out this way.”

Besides Hannum and Nygaard, Annalise Fairbank, Emma Claridge and Hailey Roofener are the other Lady Hawk seniors, and all played critical roles in the big win over the Lady Bulldogs. Junior Aubrey Baxter, returning to form from an injury sustained against this very same Mission team last year in that other epic OT contest, made key plays and handled the ball capably all game as well.

Hannum finished with a game-high 21 points, including an amazing 15 for 18 performance at the free throw line, to lead the Hawks. Deal took off like a rocket to lead the Hawks in the first quarter, scoring 12 of her 18 points in the first eight minutes as the Hawks zoomed out to an improbable 17-0 lead after the first quarter.

Rock solid defense by the Hawks in that time frame certainly helped Thompson Falls get out to that big lead. Nygaard, Fairbank, Baxter, and Audrey Fairbank made vital contributions to that defensive effort and all added two points each, and each and every point was a critical one Saturday.

“Everyone played so well, just so proud of them,” Tessier said. "Annalise, for example, she held Cora Matt (Mission’s high scoring center who has signed to play college basketball in the Frontier Conference) to only two points twice this season. Annalise has been a great glue player for us, does anything she can to help us win.”

Annalise’s little sister, freshman Aubrey also had an impact, making a big hoop in the second quarter when the Hawks’ offense had seemingly stalled, to get Thompson Falls going again.

On the other side, Kieran Incashola was money in the bank for Mission, leading the Lady Bulldogs with 18 points, including three 3-pointers and 11 of her points in the third quarter when Mission made its big push in getting back in the game. Sheadon Kain added nine points for Mission, Mary Lemere seven and Lelia Stops six. Matt and Brooklyn McClure had two points each for the District 7B regular season champion Bulldogs.

The Lady Hawks got off to a good start in Pablo with the win over Anaconda. Featuring very balanced scoring, the Lady Hawks were led to the win by Deal who scored 17 points, Hannum who added 13, Nygaard had 11, Annalise Fairbank 10 and Baxter four.

Against Loyola in the semifinals Friday, the Hawks played the favored Breakers straight up through most of the first quarter, taking a 10-7 lead when Deal connected on a howitzer of a 3-pointer from right in front of Loyola’s bench with about four minutes gone in the game. Unfortunately, the powerful Breakers, led by Stanford recruit junior Spencer Laird, managed to regain their footing and slowly but surely pull away from the Hawks.

Although the final score may look fairly lopsided, observers felt the Hawks never did let the Breakers truly run away in the game. “We played Loyola very well, their coach (Aaron Ward) thanked me for testing them like that,” Tessier said. "We held Spencer to a career-low 13 points, decided we were not going to let her beat us. Problem is, her little sister (Emme, a 6-0 freshman phenom) has pretty good game too.”

Indeed, Emme ended up leading the Breakers with 22 points, including a few 3-pointers from the top of the key to give Loyola a cushion in the second half, exceeding her sister’s 13.

Deal scored 12 points to lead the Lady Hawks, Hannum added 10, Annalise Fairbank five, Baxter three, and Nygaard and Audrey Fairbank two each.

The Hawks got back on track with the win over Plains Saturday morning.

Hannum led the Hawks to the win as she has so many times during her career, this time with 19 points, Nygaard added 10, Deal and Annalise six apiece, Baxter four, Audrey three and Claridge one.

    SHOWN BATTLING Mission inside for points in Pablo Saturday, Lady Hawk senior Gabi Hannum led Thompson Falls to the exciting win with 21 points, including a remarkable 15 for 18 shooting night at the free throw line. (John Hamilton/vp-mi)
  

    IN SYNC, Lady Hawk Solveig Nygaard dribbles as Mission’s Mary Lemere gives chase during second half action of Thompson Falls’ 47-44 overtime win over Mission in Pablo Saturday. (John Hamilton/vp-mi)
  

    SWEET VICTORY! The Thompson Falls faithful in attendance at Saturday’s Western B consolation game with Eureka in Pablo erupt in cheers and high fives as the team rushes the floor at the final horn of the Lady Hawks’ exciting 47-44 overtime win over Mission. (John Hamilton/vp-mi)
  

    WE ARE THIRD and proud of it! The Lady Hawks pose for a team picture after collecting the third place hardware from the Western B divisional tournament in Pablo Saturday. The Hawks are assistant coach Sandra Kazmierczak, manager Savana Wilson, Marley Robinson, Makarlie Stein, Emma Claridge, Hailey Roofener, Annalise Fairbank, Gabi Hannum, Addy Deal, Aubrey Baxter, Audrey Fairbank, Angela Koskela, Hailey Lowe and head coach Mike Tessier. (John Hamilton/vp-mi)