Thunderbirds soar into semifinals

In the opening round of the District 9C tournament, Big Sandy put up a good fight until the bitter end. But unfortunately for the Pioneers, the Hays-Lodge Pole Thunderbirds proved to be too tough of an opponent and ran away with the win.

Playing for a chance to get into tonight’s semifinals, the Thunderbirds and Pioneers tipped off Wednesday night at the HHS gymnasium. But it wasn’t long before the Thunderbirds were clearly in control, eventually defeating Big Sandy 50-18. The win matches up the Thunderbirds (14-5) against Chinook tonight at 8. And the loss puts the Pioneers in Friday’s 2:30 p.m. loser-out game against either Box Elder or North Star.

There wasn’t a time in Wednesday’s game when the Thunderbirds weren’t in control.

That includes the first quarter, when they found themselves holding a 17-3 lead at the end of eight minutes. A big reason for the sprint out of the gate by the Thunderbirds was due to Sterling White Cow’s hot start. White Cow finished the game with 10 points, but scored eight of those in the opening 3:30 with a layup and two 3-pionters. But, overall, 11 total Thunderbirds found a way to score, including 10 from Frank Runs Above and nine from Tyson Shambo. Tough Snow had seven rebounds, while RunsAbove grabbed six boards on the night. Bruce Denny Jr. led the Thunderbirds with four assists.

“We shared the ball and I think we played good defense,” White Cow said after the win. “Hopefully we can carry that over into the next game. We have to bring our A game every game this weekend, and really pick up our defense even more. That is where games are won, with defense.”

But one flaw in the Thunderbirds’ game was their inconsistent shooting early and then late in the game. And if the Pioneers could have found a way to score themselves, the game could have been a close matchup.

HLP only shot 33 percent in the first half and 35 percent in the second half from the field. The Thunderbirds finished the game 22-of-64. But the Pioneers couldn’t take advantage, as they shot just 15 percent from the field on the night.

Laurence Allderdice led the Pioneers with eight points, while Levi Edwards finished with four. Cody Bailey had a strong performance on the boards, leading all players with 13 total rebounds.

And a big reason for the Pioneers’ struggles came from a pestering T-Bird defense.

“I liked our intensity level on defense,” HLP head coach Charlie Ereaux said. “But we got our first-game jitters out, and that is always good. You could tell we were tight, we missed a lot of bunnies tonight and hopefully we got those out of the way. But I really liked our intensity on defense, and we wanted to run a little of everything that we will run throughout the course of the weekend.”

The T-Birds did bounce in and out of their zone looks, as well as their full and half court presses and traps. And in doing so, the Pioneers committed 25 turnovers, resulting in 22 points for HLP. Denny Jr. led the Thunderbirds with eight steals. If the Thunderbirds can get a similar performance against the Beeters, they like their chances in what should be a very competitive matchup.

“Both games in the regular season came down to the fourth quarter,” Ereaux said. “So I expect another tight game. It will be a close ballgame, we both play hard, and I imagine it will come down to which team can make those plays in the fourth.”

Hays-Lodge Pole 50, Big Sandy 18

Big Sandy 3 6 1 8 – 18

HLP 17 11 11 11 – 50

Big Sandy – Levi Edwards 1-13 2-6 4, Eric Schwarzbach 0-1 0-2 0, Cody Bailey 1-8 1-2 3, Zachary Works 0-4 0-3 0, TJ Shipp 1-5 0-0 3, Laurence Allderdice 3-8 1-2 8. Totals 6-39 4-15 18.

HLP – Andrew Cole 1-7 0-0 2, Codie Kirkaldie 0-2 1-4 1, Tough Snow 1-5 0-0 2, Tyson Shambo 3-11 0-0 9, Damon Castillo 1-3 0-0 2, Nate Doney 2-8 0-0 4, Thomas Molina 0-2 0-0 0, Sterling White Cow 4-11 0-0 10, Frank RunsAbove 5-7 0-2 10, Bruce Denny Jr. 1-1 0-0 2, Joe Stiffarm 2-3 0-0 4,Keenan Stiffarm 2-4 0-0 4. Totals 22-64 2-8 50.

3-pointers: Big Sandy 2-10 (Shipp 1, Allderdice 2), HLP 4-16 ( Shambo 2, White Cow 2); Rebounds: Big Sandy 33 (Bailey 13), HLP 40 (Snow 7, RunsAbove 6); Fouls: Big Sandy 7, HLP 13; Fouled out: None.