Off to strong start, Lady Copperheads impress in home opener with 16-point win over T-Falls

After a solid showing at the Tip-Off Tournament in Three Forks to open the season, the Lady Copperhead basketball team were back on their own court on Saturday, Dec. 21 where they played host to the Lady Blue Hawks of Thompson Falls and put on a clinic at the Snake Pit for their home opener, notching a 62-46 win. 

Both teams got out to a bit of a slow start, as the first points weren't recorded until almost the 2-minute mark when Jade Moses – who started the series with a steal – nailed a jumper to make it 2-0. Meela Mitchell made it 3-0 after a foul on a strong post-up sent her to the free-throw line. A jumper off the glass finally put T-Falls on the scoreboard, but Moses got it right back with a put-back off an offensive rebound to make it 5-2. The Lady Blue Hawks got back to within two with a free throw, then with 2 minutes remaining in the first quarter took the lead with a trey. Mitchell had the answer, however, with a triple of her own from the baseline as the shot clock expired and the first frame ended with Anaconda up 8-6. 

Thompson Falls grabbed the lead right back at the start of the second quarter with another three-pointer – and Mitchell yet again had the answer as she drained her second of what would be a whopping seven treys that afternoon. The three-pointers continued to rain down, this time another from T-Falls – and that, too, was answered by the Lady Copperheads, though this time it was the freshman, Addie Olson, who gave Anaconda back the lead at 14-12. Rain Daniels then added her first basket of the night as Quincy Saltenberger dished to her in the paint for a two. 

The Lady Blue Hawks made one more attempt at a comeback as they scored the next five points to take back the lead, which would prove to be their final one of the game. Mitchell nailed another three from the baseline off another dish from Saltenberger, who got the next bucket with a put-back on the offensive glass to put Anaconda up by four. Mitchell then made it a seven-point lead with another three, and after Giana Chor sunk a two-pointer on the baseline at the end of some very nice team passing, the Lady Blue Hawks called time with the score at 26-17 in favor of the home team.

T-Falls notched one more basket that quarter, a two, and a pair of free throws, but that was evened out by Chor and Daniels, each with their second buckets of the game, as the scoreboard read 30-21 at the half. 

Then the Lady Copperheads came out shooting after the break, as Moses nailed a three-pointer on the opening possession of the third quarter to put Anaconda up by 12. That was followed by a Daniels jumper with the assist from Moses who first got the ball rolling with another steal. Moses kept the pressure up, hitting a long two and then sinking another off a drive into the paint, while Thompson Falls could only muster a single free throw as AHS went up by 17. 

The Lady Blue Hawks still had a bit of fight in them, hitting another triple, a couple twos and a pair of freebies, but a baseline jumper from Daniels, a dribble-drive by Mitchell and – what else – two more threes from the latest Lady Copperhead to join the 1,000-point club – and one more point from Daniels at the charity stripe and Anaconda was up 19 with one quarter left to play.

The Lady Blue Hawks tried to claw back, scoring six of the first seven points in the fourth quarter as their string of two-pointers was interrupted by a free throw from Chor, but Mitchell drained her seventh and final trey of the day and Olson added another jumper to put Anaconda back up by 19. Daniels added two more on a put-back on the offensive boards, even as T-Falls sank three more baskets as they tried to trim Anaconda's lead. Chor, however, made it 60-43 with a bucket down low after Mitchell beat the press and Olson added two more on a lay-in set up by Saltenberger who also beat the press to put the lead back at 19. 

By then it was JV time for the Lady Copperheads after a timeout from the Lady Blue Hawks, who had one more basket in them, a three, before time expired. It mattered not, however, as the final score read Anaconda 62, Thompson Falls 46. 

Meela Mitchell led the team in scoring with 26 points, 21 of them from beyond the arc. Daniels also was in double figures with 11 points, plus 9 from Moses, 7 each from Chor and Olson and 2 from Saltenberger. 

School is out until after the New Year, but the Lady Copperheads will return to their home court on Friday, Jan. 3 when they will host Class A Stevensville. Varsity is set to tip off at 7 p.m.