The Lady Rangers showcased resilience and dedication with a hard fought battle against the East Helena Vigilantes Tuesday January 21. Despite their efforts the girls ultimately fell short with a nail biter fourth quarter and a final score of 50-55.
“This group right now is 2 and 8 but I don’t think their record shows how successful they have been on the floor this year. Four out of their losses have been within five points each, so we are just having a hard time finishing games,” Head Coach Matt Schad said.
A standout player from the night was sophomore Maria Turck, who showed her drive especially in the third quarter where she scored a whopping 17 points against the Vigilantes. It is no surprise that this gave the Rangers a needed morale boost and a lead of 44-37. Turck ended the night scoring an impressive 30 points.”I knew this was a really important game, ” Turck said. “I was trying to play really well with my team, they were helping me get a lot of my points with assists and we worked really well together.”
Another contributor of the night was junior Chase Vermillion who got off to a fast start in the first half helping the Lady Rangers as score leader for the Ranger with 17 points but also with collecting 18 rebounds for the Rangers. “The girls did a really good job of being more aggressive and more high energy for the whole game,” Schad said, “getting back to the things we do well.”
Other players like Alivia Duffy, Quinci Wood, Landess O’Dea, Annie Keyes and Lexi Melin were the backbone in the team to reach their goals of a stronger defense. East Helena, however, proved tough to beat with a game-ending free throw made by #20 Keeley Hamilton from the Vigilantes.
Despite the loss, the season is still filled with young grit from players such as Vermillion, Turck, and Melin. Along with the impressive defense carried out by O’Dea, Wood, Duffy and Keyes. The Lady Rangers next home game is Tuesday January 28th against the Jefferson Panthers.