Vals get even with Loggers

Sweet, sweet revenge.

The Bigfork Valkyries came into Friday's tournament semifinal against the Libby Lady Loggers with just the tiniest of chips on their shoulders.

The defending Northwestern A divisional champions will leave Class A after this school year for the Class B ranks.

They had also lost twice to Libby during the regular season.

"We came out ready to go and we wanted revenge and also that we could show our place, show we deserve to be in Class A," said Valkyrie senior forward Roxy Thurman.

They definitely showed something - the Vals dropped No. 2 seed Libby 56-33 to advance to tonight's divisional championship.

They'll play the Columbia Falls Wildkats at 8 p.m. at Glacier High School.

"It's exciting. For me, it's my third time (to play in the divisional championship)," Thurman said.

"I thought we did a nice job. We knocked down some shots," said Bigfork coach Mark Hansen.

The Vals hit seven 3-pointers - Thurman had three while sophomore guard Caitlin Charlebois hit four.

"It's always nice when you knock down some 3s. That just opens the game up for Kailey (Fierro) and everybody inside," the coach said.

"When we do that, we're able to get in our press. Things work a little better for us if we can do that," Hansen said.

"She definitely lit a fire for us, hitting those 3s. She was definitely a spark plug," Thurman said of Charlebois.

"She played awesome," Hansen said of Charlebois.

"She broke the press, she had all sorts of energy out there for us, handled the ball, made great decisions when we wanted to back it off," he said.

Charlebois led all scorers with 19 points. Thurman added 12 and Fierro had 10 for Bigfork.

Jackie Mee led the Loggers with 16 points.

"We play better just going, letting them shoot. Do what we do best. We're not really a very good team pulling it back out and running great sets," the coach said.

"Just run and spread the floor, play good defense … and watch out for Jackie Mee and (Brittany) Martin, the 3-point shooters," Thurman said of the Vals' game plan.

It worked pretty well - Martin made Libby's only 3-pointer.

"Obviously, you've got to recognize where Jackie is, she's so tough. I thought the girls did a great job on that and also on Brittany Martin," Hansen said.

The Vals were definitely ready to go from the opening tip.

They raced to an early 10-1 lead and were up 12-5 after the first quarter.

"Then they made it interesting on us," Hansen smiled.

The Loggers opened the second quarter with three quick baskets from Mee.

With 6:36 left in the half, they had cut the deficit to four points.

"Libby is so well-coached and such a good team. We knew they'd make a little run at us. Jackie got inside on us a couple times and got some shots and some putbacks," Hansen said.

"We called timout and talked about keeping her off the boards."

The Loggers cut the deficit to five points twice more - once before the half and once to start the second half.

But the Vals answered both times and by the end of the third quarter, they led 37-22.

"Give Bigfork all the credit in the world," said Libby coach Jim May.

"The reason we didn't play well is because they played well. They got us on our heels. They came out and got in our faces and we couldn't handle their pressure like we wanted.

"Those Bigfork girls just came out and played like gangbusters," May said.

"But my girls will bounce back. I've got great kids."

For Libby, the route to the Class A state tournament just got more roundabout. The Loggers take on Polson at 10:45 a.m. today at Flathead. The winner advances to the 4 p.m. consolation game at Glacier and then hopes for a challenge opportunity.

As for Bigfork, the Vals have even more revenge on their minds with the Wildkats.

"It's another team we haven't beaten this year," Thurman said.

Libby 5 12 5 11 - 33

Bigfork 12 12 13 19 - 56

Libby - Brittany Martin 1 0-0 3, Jaime Gilden 3 5-8 11, Logan Best 0 3-4 3, Jackie Mee 6 4-7 16. Totals 10 12-19 33.

Bigfork - Mallery Knoll 2 2-4 6, Quinci Paine 0 3-4 3, Ariana Shults 3 0-0 6, Roxy Thurman 4 1-3 12, Caitlin Charlebois 7 1-1 19, Kailey Fierro 4 2-3 10. Totals 20 9-15 56.

3-point goals: Libby 1 (Martin), Bigfork 7 (Thurman 3, Charlebois 4), Total fouls: Libby 17, Bigfork 17. Fouled out: None.