LAMONT —



Deer Creek-Lamont’s girls are entering the playoffs on the highest of notes.

The Lady Eagles  are 13-5 and ranked No. 14 in Class B, finished the regular season with wins over Morrison (55-29), Cherokee (44-40) and No. 7 Lomega (65-46) last week.

“All three games were huge for us,’’ said DCLA coach Christy Kelley. “We’re peaking at the right time.’’

They are getting healthy at the right time, too.

Junior guard Carly Metcalf, who sat out most of the season after arthroscopic knee surgery, is back.

Courtney Kirby has recovered from a sprained ankle which caused her to miss a 50-20 loss to Tonkawa Jan. 26.

If a wrist injury is bothering senior Jill Hobbs, she isn’t showing it. She had 22 points against Cherokee and 32 against Lomega.

“It’s been sore,’’ Kelley said of Hobbs, “but this is her senior year and she realizes she has to do everything she can every night.

“Jill is a very determined ballplayer. Her ultimate goal is to make it to the state tournament and she is doing everything she can to get us there.’’

Hobbs is averaging 18.8 points a game.

“She’s a very special player,’’ Kelley said.

Metcalf had missed almost two months from the knee injury. She is playing a few minutes a game trying to get back into playing shape.

“She is one of our leaders,’’ Kelley said of Metcalf. “It means a lot for us to have her on the court and being able to turn to her when we need to.’’

Kirby, a 5-foot-6 junior forward,  had 12 points against Lomega. It was the second time she was in double figures this season.

“She’s stepped up and become the player we wanted her to be,’’ Kelley said. “She has hit several key shots for us and she’s done a great job defensively.’’

Rachel Kirby, a 5-10 junior forward, is averaging 7.3 points a game and has started to become a force on the boards.

“That was a weak area for her before,’’ Kelley said. “She has really improved there.’’

Junior guard Morgan Thompson has come back from an ACL injury last season. Her defense, Kelley said, “has improved tremendously.’’

Freshman point guard Morgan Muegge is averaging 6.7 points per game. Her strength has been getting “the ball to the open girl and getting our offense started,’’ Kelley said.

The Eagles will open the playoffs against Billings at 6:30 p.m. Friday at Medford. The winner plays Medford in the finals Saturday.

Kelley likes going east for the playoffs.

“We realize there’s some tough teams going in that direction,’’ she said. “We’ll take it one game at a time and not look too far ahead.’’

Billings, the No. 3 seed in the three-team girls tournament, chose to play DCLA over Medford despite losing to the Lady Eagles 73-14 Jan. 14. DCLA beat the host Lady Cardinals 46-27 Jan. 5.

Medford is the alma mater of both Kelley and DCLA assistant Mikki Zachary. Kelley still lives there.

“It’s always hard to play Medford,’’ Kelley said. “We wish them the best, too.’’