Christmas came early for the Lady Rangers who kicked off their first home games with a win against the Polson Pirates and a close loss to the Corvallis Blue Devils. The East West Tip-Off tournament had both boys and girls teams facing Polson Friday night and Corvallis Saturday afternoon.
In the 52-49 win against Polson, the score was close throughout the game, but the Rangers pulled ahead decisively in the fourth quarter. Sophomore Maria Turck led the Rangers in scoring with 15 points, and junior Chase Vermillion was close behind with 13 points in the game.
Saturday was another nail-biter against Corvallis that came down to the last few minutes, resulting in a narrow loss by the Rangers, 52-48. Turck didn’t play Saturday due to an illness but the Rangers came out strong, leading 15-8 after the first quarter. Senior Alivia Duffy and junior Chase Vermillion each had six points in the first quarter.
The Blue Devils gained momentum in the second quarter when the Rangers got into foul trouble, allowing Corvallis to pull ahead by one point at the half. In the third quarter, Duffy and Vermillion continued to rack up the points for the Rangers. Junior Annie Keyes blocked a Corvallis shot by their leading scorer, #2 Ella Varner, and the Rangers maintained their lead, 33-30 at the end of the third quarter.
After getting into foul trouble early in the game, sophomore Lexi Melin came out hot in the fourth quarter, scoring five points early on. The Rangers fell short against the Blue Devils in the fourth, allowing Corvallis to score 13 points with just over three minutes left in the game. Varner made a three-pointer and the Blue Devils pulled ahead, 49-48 with just one minute left.
The final minute of the game had fans on the edges of their seats, with Corvallis slowing down to run out the clock and the Rangers missing four free throw shots. In the final second of the game, Varner scored again for the Blue Devils and the game ended with a 52-48 loss for the Rangers.