Vikings hold Horsemen to 6 points in second half;

Pirates sweep Chiefs

The Daily Inter Lake

BIGFORK - A victory in St. Ignatius this weekend and the Bigfork High School boys' basketball team will have a winning streak.

Senior guard Roland Benedict had 18 points and four steals Thursday to help lead the Vikings to a 52-33 nonconference victory over Plains.

Ahead by just four points at halftime, the Vikings stepped up their full-court, man-to-man defense and limited the Horsemen to just six second-half points.

The Vikings had 11 players combine for 25 steals.

"We just came out and the defense stepped it up," said Bigfork's seventh-year head coach Jim Epperly. "The kids were determined to win this one because our last win was against them. And they didn't back down."

The victory was Bigfork's fourth of the season; it snapped a six-game losing streak. It was also Epperly's 57th at the school and 151st in his 12-year head coaching career.

"This was a good one to get," he said. "It was nice seeing the kids smiling. That's what it is all about."

Junior guard Garrett Pewe added eight points, five steals, five rebounds and four assists in the victory. Levi Dockstader had nine points and Scott Taylor posted eight points and five rebounds.

Plains dropped to 11-4 on the season. Two of its losses came at the hands of Bigfork.

After scoring 22 points in the teams' first meeting, Plains' 6-foot-8 sophomore Trent Thompson was held to two points.

"We used a full-court man the whole game," Epperly said. "They (Plains) just got a handle on the ball in the second quarter and hit some threes to get some momentum before halftime. But we won three of the four quarters. That hasn't happened since the last time we played them. We won the second half against Polson last weekend, so that might have carried over into this one. Hopefully we can carry it over against another good Class B school in Mission and get our first winning streak."

Plains 11 16 2 4 - 33

Bigfork 17 14 10 11 - 52

PLAINS (11-4) - Brian Green 1 0-0 2, Ian Stokes 1 0-0 3, Jesse Warren 0 0-3 0, Ben Holland 1 0-0 2, Mitch Thompson 4 0-0 9, Tanner Colombo 2 1-1 7, Paul Green 1 4-4 6, Conner Ballantyne 1 0-0 2, Trent Thompson 1 0-2 2. Totals 12 5-8 33.

BIGFORK (4-11) - Roland Benedict 6 4-4 18, Levi Dockstader 4 0-1 9, Brock Boll 2 1-2 5, Garrett Pewe 4 0-0 8, Scott Taylor 3 2-4 8, Keenan Evans 1 0-0 2, Zac Hansen 1 0-0 2. Totals 21 7-11 52.

3-point goals - Pla. 4 (M. Thompson, Colombo 2, Stokes), Bf. 3 (Benedict 2, Dockstader). Totals fouls - Pla. 11, Bf. 16. Fouled out - none.

Polson 52, Ronan 46

RONAN - Zach Langston scored seven of his 13 points, while John Rausch and Waylon Michel each nailed 3-pointers, in the fourth quarter to help lead Polson from a one-point deficit entering the final frame to the upset of Class A's fourth-ranked team.

The victory gave the Pirates (5-3 in Northwestern A, 7-8 overall) the regular-season sweep of Ronan (5-2, 12-3).

Langston went 3-for-4 from the free-throw line in the fourth as Rausch and Michel combined to go 3-for-4.

The Pirates trailed 23-18 at halftime. Then Rausch hit the first of his two treys and little brother Tim scored all of his six points in the third quarter. John Rausch and Ryan Kelley each finished with 10 points.

The Pirates had just six turnovers.

It was the lowest-scoring game of the season for the Chiefs. Nolan Harris hit five 3-pointers in the loss and Moss Tanner had 14 points.

The Pirates went 17-for-25 from the charity stripe.

Polson 7 11 18 16 - 52

Ronan 5 18 14 9 - 46

POLSON (5-3, 7-8) - Craig Bagnell 2-6 0-0 4, John Rausch 2-5 2-2 10, Waylon Michel 2-4 2-4 7, Cody Doyle 0-1 2-2 2, Tim Rausch 1-2 2-5 4, Aaron Clairmont 0-1 2-2 2, Ryan Kelley 3-9 4-6 10, Zach Langston 5-10 3-4 13. Totals 15-38 17-25 52.

RONAN (5-2, 12-3) - Moss Tanner 7-16 0-1 14, Mike Fisher 1-5 4-5 6, Ryan Hesselgesser 0-1 0-0 0, Makenzy Kelch 2-7 0-4 4, Jordan St. Clair 0-1 0-0 0, Eddie Ness 1-1 0-0 3, Nolan Harris 6-16 2-2 19, Mike Crawford 0-0 0-0 0, Kyle Hendrickx 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 17-47 6-12 52.

3-point goals - Pol. 3-9 (J. Rausch 2-3, Michel 1-3), Ron. 6-17 (Harris 5-10, Ness 1-1). Total fouls - Pol. 15, Ron. 21. Fouled out - none.

Whitefish 71, Eureka 55

EUREKA - Colt Idol tallied 27 points and Whitefish used a big second half to stop Eureka in a nonconference contest.

Whitefish led 31-29 at the half, but outscored Eureka 40-26 in the second half.

"We did a poor job shooting at the free throw line (9-for-20), but our defense in the second half allowed us to get a sizeable lead and maintain it," Whitefish coach Eric Stang said. "Eureka, they're playing their hearts out. They out-hustled us in a lot of different categories."

Eureka's Marcus Pluid matched Idol for game-high scoring honors with 27 points.

Whitefish had 10 3-pointers on the night, led by Idol and Shawn Watterud. Both hit four. Watterud finished with 16 points.

Whitefish 15 16 18 22 - 71

Eureka 16 13 17 9 - 55

Whitefish (7-7) - Matt Whitehead 4 1-4 9, Aaron Tkachyk 2 0-0 4, Shawn Watterud 5 2-6 16, Alex Elespuru 1 0-2 3, Josh Backer 0 2-2 2, Marc Hotzfield 1 2-2 5, Colt Idol 11 1-2 27, David FauntLeRoy 2 1-2 5. Totals: 26 9-20 71.

Eureka (0-14) - Josiah Begay 5 3-4 16, Ben Dechart 2 0-0 5, John Davis 3 0-0 6, Josh Soderlind 1 0-0 2, Luke Truman 1 0-0 2, Marcus Pluid 10 4-7 27. Totals: 32 7-12 55.

3-point goals - Watterud (4), Elespuru, Hotzfield, Idol (4); Begay (3), Dechart. Team fouls - Whitefish 16, Eureka 17. Fouled out - Eureka, Chad Price.

GIRLS

Bigfork 56, Plains 28

PLAINS - Alyssa Fierro scored 20 points to lead Class A's fourth-ranked team to the nonconference victory over Class B Plains.

Ahead just 12-9 after the first quarter, the Valkyries used a 13-4 second quarter to take command and improve to 14-1 on the season.

Hattie Bowen and Jaylee Haveman each scored eight points in the victory and Roxy Thurman added seven points.

Plains was paced by Emma Ehret's eight points.

Bigfork 12 13 22 9 - 56

Plains 9 4 11 4 - 28

BIGFORK (14-1) - Hattie Bowen 8, Roxy Thurman 7, Alyssa Fierro 20, Jaylee Haveman 8, Quindee Averill 3, Kailey Fierro 6, Signa McLeod 2, Arianna Schultz 2.

PLAINS - Heather Earhart 1, Ashton Vulles 2, Brittany Mount 6, Beth Catalanello 6, Emma Ehret 8, Lacey Hermiston 2, Cassie Ross 3.

No other stats reported.

FVHS 55, Hellgate JV 34

MISSOULA - Charity Zempke recorded a triple-double with 20 points, 12 rebounds and 12 steals to help lead the Flathead Valley Home School.

The Lady Crusaders improved to 18-2 with the victory.

FVHS 21 13 15 6 - 55

Hellgate 8 13 4 9 - 34

FVHS (18-2) - Charity Zemke 8 3-8 20, Denae Sheeran 6 3-4 15, Hannah Rajkowski 5 0-0 10, Jenna Sladek 3 0-0 6, Saretta Eash 1 0-0 2, Denni Petersen 1 0-0 2.

Hellgate - Lacey Zimke 5 0-1 10, Nikki Kerenzel 4 0-0 9, Kristin Bruskotter 2 2-2 6, Katy Seaholm 1 0-0 3, Layna Downey 1 0-0 2, Oessa Ovellette 1 0-0 2, Brittany Watkins 1 0-0 2.

3-point goals - FVHS 1 (Zempke), Hlgt. 2 (Kerenzel, Seaholm). Total fouls - FVHS