Glacier girls fend off Bison

There was one last-second shot left at Glacier High in 2009, and fortunately for the Wolfpack it didn’t go in.

The Glacier girls led Great Falls by two with 19 seconds left in the game and tried a frantic keep-away when a Bison player snatched a steal, zoomed down court and threw up a potential game-tying shot as time expired. The ball hit the back board, rolled around the rim, but never found net.

How’s that for an early Christmas present?

Junior Rachel Cutler scored four of Glacier’s last five points and finished with a game-high 21, Ashlee Waggener scored 11 and Baylee Quay added nine as the Wolfpack edged the Bison 50-48 in a thrilling nonconference AA girls basketball game on Friday.

The victory is the second straight at home and snaps a three-game skid for the Wolfpack (2-3).

“What a nice way to get them a little Christmas present and to reward their efforts and hard work,” Glacier head coach Doug Hashley said.

“They all worked so hard and they all contributed and that was the neatest thing because if we’re going to do this thing, it’s going to be a 10-girl effort, and I really believe that’s what we got tonight.”

The Wolfpack trailed by as many as six in the fourth quarter before Brooke Watkins hit a 3-pointer and halted an 11-0 run by Great Falls (2-2). From there, the Glacier girls chipped away and ended up taking a 45-44 lead after Cutler scored off a rebound with 2:30 left.

“It hasn’t gone their way the last couple times but they just kept believing, and when you have fun you can do a lot of things,” Hashley said. “Right now we have to trust all of our teammates and we’re doing that. We’re taking chances understanding that our teammate is going to be there for us, and it’s just fun to watch those girls communicate like that and cover for each and work hard for each other.”

Watkins, Glacier’s leading scorer on the season, was bottled up most of the night by defenders but managed to score all six of her points in the second half.

“I thought we played hard, but we didn’t play smart,” Great Falls first-year coach Dennis Renning said.  “We didn’t give up. We had our chances at the end there, but we didn’t get it in the hole. The ball just didn’t go in.”

It was clear all night that the Wolfpack was without a noticeable post presence, but as Hashley says, the team made up for it in other areas.

“They just have such big hearts,” he said. “We were outmatched and we’re going to be outmatched every game at the post. But the heart they had. There was a couple times I couldn’t even see Bailey (Quay) as the (Great Falls) girl was posting up.”

Glacier returns to action on Jan. 7 in a conference home game against Missoula Sentinel.

The first members of the Glacier High Wall of Fame were inducted during halftime ceremonies.

Nine students from last year’s graduating class were chosen after displaying excellence in at least one athletic activity, excelling academically and being involved in leadership roles.

The inductees were: Ben Cutler, Nicole Hall, Emilee Hashley, Larry Iverson, Megan Leininger, Jared Rice, Kayla Smart and Lindsea Vaudt.

Great Falls    10    8    15    15    —    48

Glacier    11    5    18    16    —    50

GREAT FALLS (2-2) — Allison Owen 1 0-0 2, Brittany Kumm 4 0-0 10, Sarah Schermele 0 2-3 2, Brandy Kumm 3 2-2 9, Carly O’Rourke 0 0-0 0, Jolene Larch 4 2-4 10, Maryglen Vielleux 2 2-4 6, Beki Schultz 4 1-2 9. Totals 18 9-15 48.

GLACIER (2-3) — Rachel Cutler 7 4-8 21, Paige Latimer 0 1-2 1, Cami Mathison 1 0-0 2, Sydney Sharaf 0 0-0 0, Nicole Heavirland 0 0-0 0, Baylee Quay 2 5-8 9, Patty Hughes 0 0-0 0, Brooke Watkins 1 3-4 6, Ashlee Waggener 4 3-5 11. Totals 15 16-27 50.

3-point goals — Great Falls 3 (Brittany Kumm 2, Brandy Kumm), Glacier 4 (Cutler 3, Watkins); Team fouls — Great Falls 16, Glacier 14; Fouled out — None.