RONAN -- On Saturday night the Charlo Vikings and Hot Springs Savage Heat met in the District 14C girls basketball championship. After a slow offensive start from both teams, Charlo pulled away in the second quarter and never led by less than seven en route to claiming the district title and a spot at the Western C divisional tournament with a 48-32 victory.
Throughout the first quarter both teams struggled to get anything going until the end of the frame. Heading into the second quarter, Hot Springs held the 8-7 lead, but the Vikings kicked it into gear, scoring 19 points in the quarter to take a 26-15 lead into the locker room at the half.
In the second half, Hot Springs didn't let Charlo pull away as it pulled within 10 points heading into the fourth quarter.
In the fourth, Hot Springs got within seven points but couldn't get any closer as Charlo held on to win.
As a team, Charlo shot 12 for 42 from the field and 1 for 10 from beyond the arc. The Vikings also added 21 made free throws on 28 attempts. Connor Fryberger led all scorers with 15 points on 5-for-10 shooting from the field and went 5 for 5 from the stripe. Carlee Fryberger added nine points of her own, while Liev Smith scored 12 points.
"It feels great," said Charlo head coach Bret Thompson. "It's a stepping stone of the goals the girls set at the beginning of the year. When you start playing teams the third time, it's kind of tough. You could see we knew each other. I thought we did a great job in the second quarter, it got us back into the game. Two good teams, hopefully we can get to divisionals and stay healthy."
