When the game was on the line, the Lady Red Devils had ice in their veins, and no one more so than cool Kristina Brown.

The Devils shot down the Lady Hawks largely from the free throw line in Thompson Falls Thursday, winning 49-45 after connecting on 11 of 14 free throws in the fourth quarter, with Brown canning seven of eight attempts during that stretch.

The Devils had built a 12-point lead late in the third quarter before the Lady Hawks charged back to make things interesting in the fourth quarter. More interesting than they needed to be according to Noxon coach Bart Haflich.

“We tried hard to make it interesting there in the fourth quarter,” Haflich said. “We took our foot off the gas and Thompson Falls made a good run. Fortunately, we were able to regain our composure and knock down our free throws, or it could have been a different story.”

With less than a minute left in the third quarter, Anna Kaiser scored two of her team-high 15 points to give Noxon a 34-22 lead. From that point on, the Lady Hawks went on a 17-1 run to take a 39-35 lead with 3:56 left in the game.

But that’s when the Lady Devils finally fought back from the free throw line. First, Delaney Weltz canned two of two to make the score 39-37. Then Brown swished another pair to tie it up at 39-39.

After the Hawks retook the lead at 41-39, Weltz connected on one of two charity tosses and Cory Brodmerkle got loose for a two-point hoop to give Noxon a 42-41 lead and the Devils would not trail again. Brown made good on five of six charity tosses in the final minute to keep

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the West End girls ahead after that.

Kaiser’s 15 points paced a balanced Noxon scoring attack, Weltz and Brown added 11 each (with all 11 of Brown’s coming off free throws), Brodmerkle had 10 and Phalyn Fickas two very big points (which gave Noxon a 44-41 lead with only 1:35 remaining).

Please see other story for Thompson Falls scoring.

In other action last week, the Lady Devils thrashed the Two Eagle River Eagles 67-16 in Pablo Saturday.

Brodmerkle scored 18 points to lead that Noxon win, Brown and Kaiser kicked in 14 apiece, Kali Murray added 10, Weltz nine and Fickas two.

Ce’Alana Shephard and Justina BigBeaver scored six points each for Two Eagle.

The Devils have two important District 14C games on tap this week, visiting St. Regis Friday and hosting Charlo Saturday. “These are big games,” Haflich said, “and a good opportunity for us to string together a few wins.”