Girls could slip in standings after three tough losses

Trying to stay amongst the top two teams in conference to set themselves up for a favorable bracket in next week's district tournament, the Glasgow girls' basketball team nearly slipped to the bottom two in a rough weekend of play.
The Scotties opened a series of four games in five days with three home games, starting on Friday against Wolf Point.
Glasgow has a drastic height disadvantage when playing the Wolves but didn't let it show in a tough and defensive first quarter.
Scoring the first bucket of the game two minutes after the opening tip, the Scotties then surrendered a 7-0 run to Wolf Point, a problem that would reoccur all weekend. But the Scotties closed strong in the opening set, outscoring Wolf Point 7-1 to take a 9-8 lead at the end of the quarter.
Both teams began to find holes in the opposing defense in the second, trading baskets for most of the quarter. With Glasgow up 23-21 with a few minutes remaining in the half, Wolf Point utilized its mix of size and speed and closed the quarter on a 7-0 run to take a 28-23 lead into the break.
After both teams struggled to score to begin the second half, Wolf Point center Alex Courtney took over the game with five minutes to go in the third. The tall, strong senior nearly single-handily kept the Wolves using her size to get to the hoop and scored the last eight points of the quarter. Courtney finished with a game-high 20 points.
With Wolf Point ahead 40-32 heading into the fourth, the Scotties struggled to put points on the board in the final quarter not scoring until Taylor Markle hit a 3-pointer nearly four minutes into the quarter.
Markle and sophomore guard Jami Johnson did their best to keep the Scotties close, with the two combining for all 12 points in the quarter, but foul trouble and size got the best of them and the Wolves took the victory.
Markle led the Scotties in scoring netting 16 points in the loss and Johnson finished with seven points. Chloe Sukut, who matched up with the Wolf bigs for much of the game, also finished with seven points. Quinn Vaira finished with six points, Hannah Schultz had three points and Rose Reyling and Shelby Fossum each finished with two points. Tiffany Wetzel, who was mired in foul trouble for most of the game, finished with one point.
The Scotties had to try to come back from that physical matchup the next night against Plentywood and saw a lot of the same struggles in the first quarter that plagued them against Wolf Point.
The Lady Cats, another tall team, bullied the Scotties in the first quarter, using their size and forcing turnovers on their way to a 16-12 lead.
Glasgow played much better in the second quarter, as it did in the first meeting with Plentywood, and took back the lead with a pull-up jumper from Markle with two minutes remaining in the half. After Sukut made her first free throw on the next possession, the Scotties got the rebound from her miss on the second and buried another jumper to take a 23-19 lead.
The Lady Cats hit four free throws to tie the game but Fossum hit one for the Scotties to give Glasgow a 24-23 lead heading into halftime.
Unfortunately, that was the last time Glasgow was anywhere close to the lead. The scoring bug bit the Scotties again as the Scotties missed breakaway layups and open jumpers in a 16-0 Plentywood run to begin the third quarter.
By the time the Scotties finally were able to put points on the board, when Markle hit a layup with 2:04 remaining in the quarter, they were down 39-26 and had already put Plentywood in bonus territory. The Lady Cats outscored Glasgow 18-5 in the quarter, and with a litany of good free throw shooters, basically sealed the game as they headed into the fourth with a 41-29 lead.
Markle hit three 3-pointers in the fourth, but it couldn't match the 10 free throws hit by the Lady Cats in the quarter. All but two of Plentywood's points came from the charity strip in the quarter, icing the game and giving them a 53-42 victory.
Markle finished the game with 23 points to lead the Scotties. Schultz scored four points while Sukut Wetael and Reyling each had three points. Vaira, Johnson and Fossum all finished with two points.
On Monday, the Scotties finally got a reprieve from the land of giants when they played Poplar.
Before the game Glasgow honored Sukut, Markle and Vaira for Senior Night.
The only team as equally-Lilliputian as the Scotties, Glasgow pressed the Indians for the entire first half. Glasgow jumped out to a 15-5 lead after the first quarter and held Poplar to only two points in the second quarter, gaining a 27-7 halftime lead.
With the starters gaining some needed rest in the second half, the rest of the team got to spread the ball around. Every Scotty got to play at least 13 minutes in the game and had their best turnover outing in a while, limiting themselves to only 12 giveaways while forcing 36 from the Indians.
Sukut and Fossum each scored 12 points to lead the Scotties. Markle scored 10 points in the game as the only other Glasgow player in double figures. Reyling scored six points and Wetzel and KayCee Markle both scored five points. Schultz scored three points and Johnson scored two points to round out scoring for the Scotties.
On Tuesday, the girls fell at Sidney 55-45.
The rough weekend leaves the Scotties at 4-4 in conference and 7-10 overall with just one more game remaining in the regular season. Glasgow stands only a game in front of Harlem and Plentywood in the standings and this Friday the Scotties travel to Malta to take on the top-ranked M-ettes. A loss on Friday, coupled with wins by Harlem and Plentywood, could leave the Scotties in fifth place in the conference and in a tough spot for the district playoffs.
Harlem will play Wolf Point and Plentywood this weekend while Plentywood's lone game is at Harlem on Saturday. The clash of Lady Cats will most likely decide the Scotties matchup for next week's tournament.
The Scotties travel to Malta on Friday for the last game of the regular season.