Bigfork knocks off C-Falls

The Daily Inter Lake

Thompson tallies 16 points in victory

COLUMBIA FALLS - Nikki Thompson scored 16 points and the Bigfork Valkyries held off the host Wildkats 50-46 in a Northwestern A girls basketball matchup Thursday.

"We got out to a really slow start, offensively," said Columbia Falls coach Kris Salonen. "We're having a tough time now, offensively."

Foul trouble caused further problems for Columbia Falls.

The Wildkats (3-6, 8-9) trailed 15-6 after the first quarter and were down 33-21 at half.

"We had to try to salvage the first half.

"We matched up evenly in the third, then we put on a fourth quarter run," the coach said.

Columbia Falls pulled within two points with about three minutes to go in the game.

"Bigfork played a great game," Salonen said. (Vals coach Nate Hammond) went deep into his bench tonight. Everybody played well for Bigfork. It was a good team effort on their part," she added.

"Basically, we played one quarter of basketball tonight."

Columbia Falls travels to Ronan Saturday.

VALKYRIES 50, WILDKATS 46

Bigfork 15 18 8 9 - 50

Columbia Falls 6 15 7 18 - 46

Bigfork - Callie Gunderson 1 0-0 Hannah Hilley 1 1-4 3, Nikki Thompson 6 2-2 16, Carly Hilley 1 2-2 5, Breana Brendsel 2 4-4 8, Alyssa Fierro 1 3-6 5, Beth Bermel 4 1-2 11. Totals 16 13-20

Columbia Falls - Callie Spencer 1 3-6 5, Jessica Boyer 0 1-2 1, Jenna Toole 8 1-4 17, Kim Pearce 2 2-2 7, Lindsay Johnson 1 1-2 3, Bekah Stoltz 2 6-7 11, Dani Herman 1 0-0 2. Totals 14 14-23 46.

3-point goals: Bigfork 6 (Thompson 2, Carly Hilley 1,Bermel 2), Columbia Falls 2 (Pearce 1, Stoltz 1). Total fouls: Bigfork 18, Columbia Falls 18. Fouled out: Whitney Wilson and Beth Bermel.