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The pressure got to the Lady Hawks last week; dealing with that kind of pressure has now become Job No. 1 for coach Doree Thilmony and her young squad.

Thompson Falls fell to two pressure-defense teams last week, dropping a 69-53 decision to Loyola in Missoula Thursday and losing 50-33 to Eureka in a District 7B conference game in Thompson Falls Saturday.

The Hawks face two more worthy opponents with the possibility of pressure D again this week, visiting Bigfork for another 7B game Friday and hosting District 6B contender Deer Lodge in Thompson Falls Saturday. The Lady Hawks visit Noxon for a non-conference game next Tuesday.

Thilmony knows what her team will be working on this week. The Hawks committed 39 turnovers against Loyola and 36 against Eureka in the face of pressure defense from both teams.

"The biggest thing we need to work on is reducing our turnovers," she said. "We have to learn to take care of the ball better, and will be concentrating on ways to do that in practice."

Still, the Hawks stayed close with both teams early in spite of the full-court pressure defense employed by their opponents last week.

Against Loyola the Hawks trailed only 18-10 after the first quarter before the Breakers won the second 23-13 to take a 41-23 lead into halftime. Against Eureka, the Lady Hawk led 10-8 after one quarter but ended up trailing 18-12 by halftime. The Lions finally pulled away for good with an 18-9 run in the fourth period.

Sophomores Megan Baxter and Jody Detlaff both turned in fine efforts in leading the Hawks in Missoula. Baxter bucketed 20 points, pulled down nine rebounds, passed out four assists, pilfered three steals and blocked two shots, while Detlaff added 12 points, 10 boards and four steals.

Faith Frields added seven points, Maya Stiles and Elli Pardee five each, and Riley Wilson and Sarah Detlaff two apiece.

A freshman led Loyola as Lani Walker threw down 29 points on the Hawks, including 12 of 15 shooting from the field. Kelsey Esh added 12 points for the Breakers and Syd Koppang seven.

In the game with Eureka, Baxter stood out again for the Lady Hawks with 15 points, 13 rebounds and two blocked shots, Frields and Wilson added five points apiece, and Pardee and Jody Detlaff four each.

Stiles and Jody Detlaff had four rebounds each and Stiles and Wilson also dished out three assists each.

Sienna Utter led Eureka with 16 points, Rhianna Hawkins added 11, Maggie Graves nine, and Megan Hanson seven.