Wildkats push past Eureka
COLUMBIA FALLS - Their meetings last year carried conference implications. This time, the Wildkats and Lady Lions clashed with something equally important on the line: A chance to hone their attacks before hitting the stretch runs of their league schedules.
The Columbia Falls High School girls' basketball team rallied past Eureka on Thursday night for a 48-37 nonconference victory.
The game came at an ideal time for both squads as the Wildkats (3-8) are in the middle of their Northwestern A slate just as the Lady Lions (4-6) are midway through their 8-B schedule.
The Lady Lions (3-1 in 8-B play) led by as many as 10 points during a 17-9 first quarter, but the Wildkats (1-4 Northwestern A) followed a familiar - and dangerous - trend to earn their first win since beating Ronan last week.
"We did the exact same thing against Ronan," Columbia Falls coach Dan Fairbank said. "We let them get ahead of us, and then we had to claw our way back up.
"So it's nice that we can do that, but we have to stop doing that. What we've been doing this whole year is three quarters of playing even with teams and one quarter of 10 points behind."
Eureka led 21-18 at halftime before Columbia Falls took its first lead, 22-21, on Kelsey DeWitt's layup with 7:13 left in the third frame. The Wildkats went in front for good, 24-23, a minute later on Cortny Westgard's bucket.
A sophomore post, the 6-foot-1 DeWitt tied junior guard Alyssa Ladenburg with a team-high 14 points despite going scoreless in the first half. Forwards Sarah Marcille and Samantha Ladenburg combined for 15 points, with Ladenburg tallying all seven of her points in the second half.
Fairbank said there was a reason DeWitt and Samantha Ladenburg took over after the break.
"Yeah, me saying, 'Get the ball into Kelsey and Sam: You're not doing it.'" he said. "I changed my offenses just so we could get the ball into our post players more.
"We have a whole new man offense, we run a different zone offense. Once we got it down, they started moving the ball around a bit more."
Melanie Finch paced the Lady Lions with 15 points, while Carly Hammond and Mariah Newell scored six apiece. Newell grabbed seven rebounds, and Hammond and Auna Lawler each had three assists.
The balanced Lady Lions had five players score in the first quarter, but they struggled to maintain their offensive rhythm thereafter.
"I thought we forced some entry passes at the offensive end, and I think the majority of our turnovers came in half-court sets," Eureka coach John Hammond said. "Their press didn't cause that many turnovers. I thought we handled the ball pretty well in the press, but we made some poor decisions (concerning) when and when not to enter the ball into the post or passing in the half-court set."
Samantha Ladenburg said the Wildkats' stingy defense during the last three quarters was mostly a matter of mindset.
"Coach just told us to hustle," she said. "I think that we just came out kind of lazy, and came back hustling.
"I think we just decided to play, really. Just more hustling and getting position on rebounds and stuff."
The Lady Lions' lone 8-B loss came against Thompson Falls, which Eureka hosts on Saturday. Hammond said Thursday night's contest against a Class A opponent will serve the Lady Lions this weekend and beyond.
"Yeah, it's nice to win, but we treated it as another practice," he said. "You're going against quality kids, quality competition, and I thought we did a lot of things right.
"It is a plus having them on the schedule from that standpoint because … it's more physical, it's a faster game, and when we step into the 8-B, it's nice to have these under our belt."
The Wildkats visit Class AA Glacier tonight before hosting Class AA Missoula Big Sky on Jan. 24. They head to Northwestern A front runner Bigfork on Jan. 25.
"This is a great part of our schedule because … we have three games to work some kinks out, get some things done before we start the second half of our conference season," Fairbank said.
Eureka 17 4 8 8 - 37
Columbia Falls 9 9 14 16 - 48
EUREKA (4-6) - Carly Hammond 2 2-2 6, Melanie Finch 6 3-3 15, Kayci West 2 0-0 4, Auna Lawler 2 0-1 4, Stephanie Vogelman 1 0-0 2, Mariah Newell 3 0-7 6. Totals 16 5-13 37.
COLUMBIA FALLS (3-8) - Jylisa Fields 0 1-4 1, Alyssa Ladenburg 6 2-5 14, Cedar Smith 1 0-0 2, Sarah Marcille 4 0-1 8, Cortny Westgard 1 0-2 2, Samantha Ladenburg 3 1-2 7, Kelsey DeWitt 7 0-0 14. Totals 22 4-14 48.
3-point goals - none. Team fouls - Eur. 17, CF 7. Fouled out - none.