Prep Hoops: Columbia Falls boys rally past Sentinel

COLUMBIA FALLS — Senior Mitchell Wassam scored 19 points and the Columbia Falls Wildcats came back in the fourth quarter and beat Class AA Missoula Sentinel 49-41 in a nonconference boys basketball game on Saturday night.

Columbia Falls (5-0) managed only four points in the third quarter and trailed 29-24 before igniting for 24 fourth-quarter points.

Michael Williams scored nine, Austin Barth had six and Kyle Howell and Nick Emerson each added five for the Wildcats.

Columbia Falls is off until Jan. 2, when they head to Missoula Big Sky.

Sentinel    5    10    14    12    —    41

Columbia Falls    9    12    4    24    —    49

SENTINEL – Connor Woodill 0 1-2 1, Zack Wagenmann 9 4-6 22, Kendall Maier 1 3-4 5, Ben Robert 2 2-3 6, Trevor Olson 0 1-2 1, Riley King 2 1-2 6.

COLUMBIA FALLS – Kyle Howell 1 2-5 5, Nick Emerson 2 1-2 5, Austin Barth 2 2-2 6, Mitchell Wassam 6 7-8 19, Kaleb Johnson 1 0-0 2, Jacob Calderwood 10-0 3, Micheal Williams 2 4-4 9.

3-point goals – Sentinel 1 (King), Columbia Falls 3 (Howell, Williams, Calderwood). Total fouls – Sentinel 24, Columbia Falls 17. Fouled out – Barth, Roberts. Rebounds – Sentinel 32 (Wagenmann 10, Roberts 7), Columbia Falls 24 (Wassam 6, Johnson 5).

Thompson Falls 62, Eureka 52

THOMPSON FALLS — Despite a big night from Ryan Holder, the Eureka Lions couldn’t overcome District 7B foe Thompson Falls on the road.

Holder scored 19 points before fouling out and Bryton Guckenberg added 10 for the Lions (1-3).

Eureka trailed 32-21 at intermission.

Mike Wood scored 21 points to lead Thompson Falls.

Caleb Curtis chipped in nine and Tanner Peterson had six for Eureka, who hosts St. Ignatius on Tuesday.

Eureka    9    12    18    13    —    52

Thompson Falls    12    20    15    15    —    62

EUREKA – Jesse Thomson 2, Tanner Peterson 6, Ryan Holder 19, Andrew Derby 2, Josh Soderling 4, Caleb Curtis 9, Bryton Guckenberg 10.

THOMPSON FALLS – Chalis Wilson 6, Jason Laws 2, Garrett Reinschmidt 4, Brandon Wakefield 4, Chris Pavlik 9, Will Dalby 14, Mike Wood 21, Cody Phillips 2.

Polson 60,

Missoula Big Sky

MISSOULA — Tim Rausch had 20 points and 11 rebounds, Kyle Bagnell added 18 points and the Polson Pirates edged Class AA Missoula Big Sky in a high-octane nonconference game.

Polson trailed 36-32 heading into the final quarter. Both teams went into a shootout that led to 48 points in the final stanza.

Vince DiGiallonardo had 12 points and Tyler Krell had six for Polson, who overcame being outrebounded 36-32 and lost the turnover battle, 14-7.

The Pirates return to action on Jan. 5 at Northwestern A-foe Ronan at 6:30 p.m.

Polson    17    8    7    28    —    60

Big Sky    14    12    10    20    —    56

POLSON – Vince DiGiallonardo 4 2-2 12, Kyle Bagnell 4 7-8 18, Tim Rausch 6 5-8 20, Derrick Rathe 1 2-3 4, Tyler Krell 3 0-0 6.

BIGSKY – Eric Denault 3 0-0 8, Drew Owens 3 2-2 8, Ryan Devlin 5 7-8 18, Jordan Schafer 1 0-0 2, Dan Miller 5 2-2 12, Aaron Koster 3 2-3 8.

3-point goals – Polson 9 (Digiallinardo 2, Bagnell 3, Rausch 3, Rathe), Big Sky 3 (Denault 2, Devlin). Total fouls – Polson 13, Big Sky 19. Fouled out – none. Rebounds – Polson 32 (Rausch 11, Rathe 9), Big Sky 36. Turnovers – Polson 14, Big Sky 7.

Polson girls dump Big Sky

POLSON — Polson took the lead for good in the final two minutes in downing Class AA foe Missoula Big Sky on Saturday 50-45 in girls nonconference basketball action.

Class A Polson trailed 35-32 heading into the final frame.

Breanne Kelley scored a season-high 17 points to pace the Pirates (4-0). Her big quarter was in the third when she tallied nine points.

Riley Kenney posted a double-double for the Pirates with 10 points and a team-high 12 rebounds. Teammate Sierra Pete finished with 13 points and six rebounds.

“A good win for the girls,” Polson coach Randy Kelley said.

“A confidence builder.”

Missoula Big Sky    8    13    14    10    —    45

Polson    8    10    14    18    —    50

MISSOULA BIG SKY — Sarah Lidstrom 2 0-0 4, Katie Showers 4 2-4 10, Stephanie Carl 2 0-0 4, Tali Hart 2 0-0 5, Elleson Tinkle 4 2-2 10, Lauren Drombrouski 0 2-2 2, Kelsey LaVaute 3 2-2 8, Alexandra Soos 1 0-0 2. Totals: 18 8-10 45.

POLSON (1-0 and 4-0) — Mariah Hamel 1 0-3 2, Sierra Pete 5 3-5 13, Breanne Kelley 6 5-11 17, Riley Kenney 2 6-8 10, Nicole Davey 2 2-4 6, Marlee Berry 2 0-0 2. Totals: 17 16-31 50.

3-point goals: Hart; Team fouls: Big Sky 21, Polson 9; Fouled out: Lindstrom, Showers, LaVaute.

Missoula Sentinel 65, Columbia Falls 38

MISSOULA — Missoula Sentinel doubled the scored on Columbia Falls in the opening quarter and rolled from there in a matchup pitting Class AA vs. Class A.

Bryn Hasquet led Sentinel, and all scorers, with 26 points.

Kayla DeWit finished with 17 points for Columbia Falls, and Kelsey DeWit added 12.

Columbia Falls     8     13     10     7    —     38

Missoula Sentinel     16     22     20     7     —     65

COLUMBIA FALLS – McKenzie Reeve 1 0-1 2, Danielle Gilley 1 0-0 2, Kayla DeWit 6 5-5 17, Kelsey DeWit 6 0-2 12, Ashli Fairbank 0 1-2 1, Brooke Cady 0 0-1 0, Shay Grilley 1 0-2 3, Jonna Warner 0 1-2 1. Totals 15 7-14 38..

SENTINEL – McCall Hasquet 2 6-6 10, Bryn Hasquet 10 2-2 26, Kate Patenaude 2 0-0 4, Amanda Davis 1 3-4 6, DJ Reinhardt 5 0-0 11, Molly Jones 0 0-4 0, Katie Focher 2 0-1 5, Kelly Grover 1 0-0 3. Totals 23 11-17 65.

3-point goals – Columbia Falls 1 (Grilley), Sentinel 8 (B. Hasquet 4). Total fouls – Columbia Falls 13, Sentinel 15. Fouled out – none.

Missoula Loyola 51, Bigfork 45

MISSOULA — Bigfork struggled through two  tough middle quarters in falling to Missoula Loyola in a nonconference contest.

Bigfork (2-2 overall) led 15-10 after the opening quarter, but was outscored by Loyola 27-18 in the second and third periods.

Mallery Knoll paced Bigfork offensively with 15 points.

Loyola’s Alex Anderson led all scorers with 16.

Bigfork     15     7     11     12     —    45

Loyola     10     17     10     14     —     51

BIGFORK – Mallery Knoll 15, McKinze Schults 2, Quinci Paine 6, Lila Cenis 3, Taylor Peck 6, Melissa Venderveer 4, Caitlin Charlebois 9.

LOYOLA – Jordan Pfau 11, Alex Anderson 16, Kiernan Haggarty 9, Taylor Galiher 4, Emma Priddy 10, Alex Lamey 1.

 Eureka 61,

Thompson Falls 39

THOMPSON FALLS — Steph Vogelman and Cassidy Morgan both registered double-doubles to lead Eureka to an easy District 7B victory over Thompson Falls.

Vogelman led all scorers with 22 points and pulled down 10 rebounds.

Morgan finsihed with 12 rebounds and 11 points.

Teammate Carly Hammond fell one assist short of a double-double. She did score a career high 14 points to go with nine assists.

Tayler Holder also scored 10 points for Eureka (1-1 league and 2-2 overall). She had four steals.

“Balanced scoring tonight,” Eureka coach John Hammond said.

“We played very unselfish. The open player got the ball.”

Eureka    13    16    15    17    —    61

Thompson Falls    5    16    10    8    —    39

EUREKA (1-1 and 2-2) — Tayler Holder 5 0-0 10, Carly Hammond 7 0-0 14, Selene Elster 1 1-2 3, Courtney Dickinson 0 1-2 1, Brooke Williams 0 0-2 0, Cassidy Morgan 4 3-8 11, Steph Vogelman 9 4-8 22. Totals: 24 9-22 61.

THOMPSON FALLS — Kelsey Fitchett 1 0-0 2, Makayla Baker 3 1-5 7, Beca Gunderson 4 0-1 8, Hannah Peters 1 1-1 3, Karli Cavill 6 1-3 13, Kyla Molzhon 2 2-3 6. Totals: 14 5-14 39.

3-point goals: None; Team fouls: Eureka 17, Thompson Falls 17; Fouled out: None.