Huge second half lifts Columbia Falls
The Daily Inter Lake
COLUMBIA FALLS - The Columbia Falls High School girls basketball team led after a sluggish first half Thursday night before exploding in the second half to defeat visiting Libby in a Northwestern A contest, 59-37.
The Wildkats (4-3, 2-1) began the game with an 8-0 run, but couldn't pull away and led 21-11 at halftime.
"The first half, even though we were up, it was ugly," said Columbia Falls coach Kris Salonen. "We were getting out-rebounded, out-hustled. (Libby) had 12 offensive boards in the first half, and you're just lucky to be leading the game playing that way."
Libby (2-5, 0-4) out-rebounded Columbia Falls 21-9 in the first half and finished the game with a 36-25 advantage on the boards.
Columbia Falls outscored Libby 23-10 in the third quarter, but its scoring barrage wasn't due to any radical strategic adjustments.
"I just went in at halftime and told them, 'You've got to be smarter - we've got to do the little things right, and you've got to play hard. That's the bottom line - you've got to outplay them,'" Salonen said. "And that's what they did - they just fed off each other and got on a roll."
Senior guard Callie Spencer led Columbia Falls with 16 points and was also the game's high scorer. Senior forward Beth Karper came off the bench to add 10 points for the Wildkats, including eight in the second half.
Four Wildkats finished with six points apiece: Senior guard Amber Lampman, senior guard Jessica Boyer, senior guard Mary Nolan and sophomore guard Alyssa Ladenburg.
The Lady Loggers took advantage of their superior height as 5-foot-11 freshman wing Jackie Mee scored 15 points and 5-foot-7 junior wing Laice Dedrick added 12 more. Mee sunk three treys while Dedrick battled her way to 18 free-throw attempts, draining six of them.
"I really thought that either (the Wildkats) had more bodies or they were just in better shape, but we handled their pressure in the first half OK and there was a stretch in the second half where we couldn't get the ball in bounds," said Libby coach Jim May. "We had some things going in the first half that were pretty effective, inside and out - that Dedrick girl working her tail off inside - but that doesn't happen if you're in the backcourt the whole time."
May said Columbia Falls' relentless full-court pressure proved problematic to the Lady Loggers, who turned the ball over 26 times.
"We get tired, we get fatigued mentally and we need to work on it," May said. "The pressure was good. (The Wildkats) had confidence in their pressure and we fell right into their traps.
"I don't know if we would have won the game or not, but we let it get to a point where we didn't have a chance to catch them because of that full-court pressure."
But there were bright spots for the Lady Loggers, who outscored Columbia Falls in the fourth quarter, 16-15.
"This is going to sound funny, but I was not unhappy with our guard play," May said. "You pull the middle part of that second half out where we couldn't get the ball in bounds - and it wasn't all the guards' fault - and I thought our guards on defense did a pretty good job against them. I thought our guards on offense did a good job, and that's (Holly Cirian) and (Korey Kulbeck) and (Brooke Hageness)."
All juniors, Cirian, Kulbeck and Hageness combined for 10 points.
Libby is back in action Saturday, hosting Ronan at 4:30 p.m. Columbia Falls entertains rival Whitefish today at 6 p.m.
"I think what we learned tonight is you've got to come ready to play, and I don't know if we really did come ready to play (Thursday)," Salonen said. "This gym is just going to be packed with Columbia Falls and Whitefish fans and whichever team comes ready to play (tonight) is probably going to be the team that comes away with a win."
Libby 6 5 10 16 - 37
Columbia Falls 15 6 23 15 - 59
LIBBY (2-5, 0-4) - Brooke Hageness 2 0-2 4, Sperry Robinson 0 0-0 0, Holly Cirian 2-2 0-0 4, Korey Kulbeck 1 0-0 2, Brittany Martin 0 0-2 0, Laice Dedrick 3 6-18 12, Quinn Wilson 0 0-0 0, Jetta Dunham 0 0-0 0, Jackie Mee 6 0-0 15, Ashley Brossman 0 0-0 0, Nichole Newman 0 0-0 0, Jordan Refsland 0 0-0 0. Totals 14 6-22 37.
COLUMBIA FALLS (4-3, 2-1) - Callie Spencer 5 6-8 16, Amber Lampman 3 0-0 6, Jessica Boyer 2 2-2 6, Mary Nolan 1 4-5 6, Alyssa Ladenburg 2 1-3 6, Beth Karper 4 2-2 10, Sarah Marcille 0 0-1 0, Sam Ladenburg 1 1-2 3, Colyne Hislop 0 0-0 0, Kelsey DeWitt 3 0-0 6, Cortny Westgard 0 0-0 0. Totals 21 16-23 59.
3-point goals - Lib. 3 (Mee 3), CF 1 (A. Ladenburg). Rebounds - Lib. 36, CF 25. Steals - Lib. NA, CF 12. Turnovers - Lib. 26, CF 10. Total fouls - Lib. 18, CF 20. Fouled out - none.