Granite Girls, Boys drop first game of ‘20-‘21 season

PHILIPSBURG – Both of the Granite High School basketball teams faced tough Class B Anaconda squads Thursday night, losing their games while gaining valuable experience early in the season.

Girls Basketball

Anaconda 65, Granite 54

The visiting Copperheads built a 13-point lead over the first three periods and held on despite a 21-point fourth from the Lady Prospectors. The only lapse the locals had was a 16-8 run by Anaconda in the third that ended up sealing their fate.

Rachel Ward and Reece Pitcher led Granite with 16 points each. Ward’s total included four three-pointers.

Granite will get some time off until December 21 when they travel to Missoula to play Valley Christian.

SCORING

Anaconda – 12/18/16/19 – 65

Granite – 10/15/8/21 – 54

Anaconda – Pesanti 5, Johnson 7, Patrick 10, Lunceford 17, Kelly 16, Peterson 10

Granite – Lee 4, Ward 16, Pitcher 16, Lilyquist 6, Hill 2, Smith 3, Comings 7

Boys Basketball

Anaconda 63, Granite 57

The Prospectors had the game in the bag until the Copperheads exploded for a 23-8 fourth quarter that put them in the lead for good.

“We came out strong and handled the pressure well up until the 4th quarter,” said GHS Head Coach Mindy Avila. “We still have a long ways to be go to build trust and communication as a team and it's our job as coaches to get them there. Tough loss for sure.”

Granite led by 10 at halftime and nine after three quarters.

“We came into this game knowing it was going to be a dog fight, and we worked our tails off,” said team captain Hayden Mason. “We just have to pay attention more to the little things, ‘cause they add up.”

Cavan Babbitt led Granite’s scoring with 21 points on five three-pointers. Mason added 14 and Andrew Tallon 11.

SCORING

Anaconda – 8/16/16/23 – 63

Granite – 17/17/15/8 – 57

Anaconda – Snow 9, GGalle 10, Hurley 12, CGalle 2, Mikalatos 22, Kriskovich 13

Granite – Mason 14, Tallon 11, Babitt 21, White 8, Pitcher 3

Girls JV

Anaconda 47, Granite 31

The Lady Prospectors held a first-quarter 14-9 advantage, only to watch it dwindle away to a 20-20 halftime tie. Then the Copperheads used a 20-8 third quarter to take a lead and never look back.

Montannah Piar led the locals in scoring with 11 with Kinzey Clark adding eight and Gretchen Hill six.