Hellgate heartbreaker

Glacier falls at the buzzer

The ball soared higher and hovered longer than gravity typically allows. Then it ricocheted off the rim and sunk - along with the Wolfpack's hearts.

Rachel Gearheart's buzzer-beating 3-pointer spoiled the Glacier High School girls' basketball team's most stirring performance of the season Tuesday night, and Missoula Hellgate rallied to a 48-47 Western AA victory.

For three quarters, the game showed few signs of a gut-wrenching conclusion that would hinge on one fortuitous carom.

Wolfpack junior Emilee Hashley was spectacular. Her 26 points and eight rebounds were game-highs, and her three assists contributed to 12 points for junior teammate Lindsea Vaudt.

Glacier bolted to a 14-4 first-quarter lead and held a 25-18 halftime advantage. The Wolfpack's lead swelled to 17, 42-25, on Vaudt's bucket early in the fourth quarter.

And then the Knights (3-8 Western AA, 5-14 overall) unleashed a barrage of clutch shots.

Catelyn Lower scored nine of her team-high 16 points in the final frame, while Gearheart and 6-foot-2 center Kirsten Vaculik combined for nine more. Hellgate hit three treys in the final 6 minutes, including Gearheart's game-winner.

"It seemed like it wasn't gonna come down," Hellgate coach David Paisley said. "When she released it, I thought it had a chance, and I looked again and saw it was going to make a positive bounce for us.

"We just were lucky tonight. We had the luck on our side tonight."

The numbers support Paisley's conclusion. Glacier (0-11, 3-16) shot 51.3 percent from the field compared to Hellgate's 45.2 percent. The Wolfpack narrowly out-rebounded the Knights, 23-22, and Hashley's 24 points through three quarters nearly matched Hellgate's entire output.

Freshman point guard Ashlee Waggener sparked Glacier with five points, three rebounds, two assists and two steals. She banked home a 3-pointer early in the third quarter, answering a long ball by Brooke Raunig on Hellgate's previous possession.

"I'm just really proud of the girls and how they've come along, especially in the last three weeks," Glacier coach Doug Hashley said. "We're doing good things on the floor, and we've just got to learn how to win in the last three minutes.

"That's the bottom line. It's a skill now. It's a skill that you need to learn. It's something that I've got to teach them."

Hellgate pulled within three points, 46-43, on Gearheart's jumper with 1:45 remaining. Waggener's free throw with 25.5 seconds left put Glacier up by two possessions, 47-43, but the Wolfpack missed a pair of free throws with 10.1 seconds left, which could have iced Glacier's first conference triumph.

"I think we get kind of freaked out in the fourth quarter, and that's when we get really tight," Emilee Hashley said.

"The whole game, we're all loose, and we can just shoot and drive and penetrate. And then we get to the fourth quarter, and we don't do that stuff anymore. I think we freak out a little bit in the fourth quarter."

Seniors scored 19 of Hellgate's 23 fourth-quarter points and sank all six of the Knights' 3-pointers. While Paisley let his veteran Knights take over, coach Hashley watched the Wolfpack continue to develop its roles.

"You always look on the floor for that one person that has been there before, that can lead," Hashley said. "And all of my girls were trying to do that tonight.

"This game will make us better. It hurts - I can't lie - but we will come back tomorrow and have a good practice and keep getting better at what we're good at, and really bear down and keep having fun and competing."

Junior Kayla Smart had two points and four boards for Glacier, while freshman Paige Latimer had two points and two steals.

Paisley called Emilee Hashley the best post player the Knights have faced all season, including Big Sky standout Joslyn Tinkle.

"I thought she just dominated us inside tonight," he said. "We couldn't do anything with her."

Emilee Hashley wouldn't use Glacier's youth as an excuse. But the Wolfpack's freshmen and sophomores are a combined 31-7, leaving optimism that future leads won't be so easily squandered.

"We can't say that we're inexperienced," she said. "We're experienced. After our first game, we couldn't say we're inexperienced anymore. But next year, we'll be a powerhouse, I think."

Her dad agreed.

"We did so many good things, and they worked so well together," coach Hashley said. "You could just see the chemistry out there. It was fun to watch.

"There's good things in the future for these kids. Just watching them, it's like the chemistry's huge right now."

Hellgate 4 14 7 23 - 48

Glacier 14 11 15 7 - 47

HELLGATE (5-14, 3-8) - Jackie Wells 1-1 0-0 2, Brooke Raunig 4-9 1-2 11, Rachel Gearheart 4-8 0-0 9, Mary Yoder 2-6 0-0 4, Kirsten Vaculik 3-5 0-0 6, Catelyn Lower 5-13 3-3 16. Totals 19-42 4-5 48.

GLACIER (1-18, 0-11) - Kayla Smart 1-2 0-0 2, Lindsea Vaudt 5-8 2-2 12, Emilee Hashley 12-15 2-4 26, Paige Latimer 1-1 0-0 2, Ashlee Waggener 1-3 2-5 5, Kadie Latimer 0-2 0-0 0, Sydney Sharaf 0-8 0-0 0. Totals 20-39 6-11 47.

3-point goals - Hel. 6-13 (Lower 3-6, Raunig 2-4, Gearheart 1-3), Gla. 1-3 (Waggener 1-1, Smart 0-1, Sharaf 0-1). Rebounds - Hel. 22 (Vaculik 7, Raunig 2, Yoder 2, Lower 2, Piper Frame, Gearheart, team 7), Gla. 23 (Hashley 8, Smart 4, Waggener 3, Vaudt 2, Taylor Albright 2, team 4). Assists - Hel. 9 (Raunig 4, Gearheart 3, Yoder, Lower), Gla. 11 (Hashley 3, Sharaf 3, P. Latimer 2, Waggener 2, Vaudt). Steals - Hel. 5 (Vaculik 2, Raunig, Yoder, Lower), Gla. 5 (Waggener 2, Smart, Vaudt, Sharaf). Turnovers - Hel. 12, Gla. 15. Total fouls - Hel. 16, Gla. 10. Fouled out - none.