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Helena's Brooklyn Oden (12) finished with 18 points to lead the Huskies to a 57-46 win over Pelham on Jan. 10. (Reporter Photos/Keith McCoy)

By GRAHAM BROOKS / Staff Writer

PELHAM – The Helena Huskies varsity girls basketball team overcame a tough first half that included a number of fouls to grab a crucial 57-46 road win against rival Pelham on Friday, Jan. 10.

The Huskies were led by Brooklyn Oden who finished the game as the leading scorer with 18 points and Montana Harris wasn’t far behind with 17 points. The pair combined for 35 of Helena’s 57 points in the win.

“We had foul trouble in the first half and had to roll a lot of bodies through so that made things tough,” Helena head coach Alan Skinner said. “We definitely didn’t shoot free throws well, but defensively I’m proud to death of them because they guarded their tails off. We knew if we were going to come in here and steal a road win in the area, it was going to start and finish with us guarding.”

The Huskies did just that, limiting Pelham to just 10 points each in both the first and third quarters. The only Panther to finish the game in double digits was Laci Gogan with 11 points.

After the two teams went to halftime tied 23-23, the Huskies used a big second half to outscore Pelham 34-23 to pull away for the win.

Oden made eight free throws in the fourth quarter and as a team, Helena went 11-for-20 in the final eight minutes.

“Game plan wise we did exactly what we wanted to do,” Skinner said. “We really guarded hard in the front court because they’re super-fast and athletic and they have a bunch of players that can score, so we knew we wanted to get out and play in transition as much as possible.”

With the win, Helena moved to 2-0 in region play after defeating Calera earlier in the week. Helena and Pelham will meet again on Tuesday, Jan. 21 in Helena.

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