Wolfpack pull it out in 4th quarter

Libby coach Jim May wouldn't have minded if Thursday night's basketball game had ended after three quarters.

The Northwestern A Lady Loggers owned a three-point lead at that point over Western AA Glacier Wolfpack.

But, alas for the visiting Loggers, the game played out in full regulation and the Wolfpack (4-5, 0-2) rallied for a 43-40 nonconference victory.

The Loggers (6-4, 3-1) had led by as many as 10 points.

"I thought we had pretty good control of the game, throughout most of it," May said.

"I was very happy with our defense obviously, the first half. We kind of had them frustrated. We love to control their offense with our defense and we did that the first half," he added.

Libby, behind the 3-point shooting of Brittany Martin and Jackie Mee, led 14-4 after the first quarter and 18-11 at half.

"We lost track of them, they hit some threes on us," said Glacier coach Doug Hashley.

"At halftime, we just kind of pumped up the intensity a little bit and made a couple of changes. I'm just really proud of the girls, the way they had a great second half," Hashley said.

"I thought they all contributed. We had some players come in … it just kind of caught fire. They all really caught a little fire from each other. I saw real team unity the second half," he said.

"They were high-fiving each other and covering each other. We made a few mistakes, still. We lost track of (the Loggers' a couple of times with the pressure and they got some easy buckets, but a lot more intensity and fire," Hashley said.

"I'm just really proud of the way they looked for each other on the court, both offensively and defensively," he said.

"The full court pressure caused so many problems for us," May said.

"Even when we did break it, we didn't realize we could score if we ran our sets - and we kind of got crazy with the ball and then I think we got flat-footed," he added.

"Our defense was not as good in the second half as it was in the first half. I was happy with our defense overall, but we just had to play too much of it in the second half," May said.

The changes on the scoreboard, though, were gradual.

For every run the Wolfpack generated, Libby seemed to have the answer.

"They really battled back, but we hung in there," May said.

"I thought for as much trouble as we were having getting the ball up the floor, we didn't lose the lead."

"It was gradual. Nothing just turned over. We made a couple runs, they made a couple runs back," Hashley agreed.

Glacier took a short-lived lead (26-25) on Emilee Hashley's layup with 1:46 left in the third, but Libby bounced right back with two buckets in the final 30 seconds of the period.

The Loggers built that to 32-26 early in the fourth and held it until the 3:19 point.

That was when Rachel Cutler rainbowed a 3-point shot straight through. She added a pair of free throws less than a minute later to give the Wolfpack a lead it wouldn't relinquish.

Emilee Hashley led the way for Glacier with 12 points, followed by Cutler with seven and Lindsea Vaudt with six.

Martin scored 13 for the Loggers, including three 3-pointers. Jackie Mee added 10 points with two 3-pointers.

"It was nice to get a win for them as hard as they worked and it was against a Libby team that I have very much respect for," Hashley said.

"They're a good well-coached team and Jackie Mee is such a great player. We lost track of her a couple times."

Next up for Glacier is a trip tonight to Columbia Falls, while the Loggers take on Bigfork on Saturday.

Libby 14 4 11 11 - 40

Glacier 4 7 15 17 - 43

Libby - Evi Cernick 1 0-0 2, LaRona Luscher 2 0-0 4, Alyshia Martin 2 1-2 5, Brittany Martin 5 0-2 13, Jaime Gilden 2 0-2, Logan Best 1 0-0 2, Jackie Mee 3 2-2 10. Totals: 16 3-10 40.

Glacier - Kayla Smart 2 1-2 5, Maddy Frey 0 3-6 3, Rachel Cutler 2 2-4 7, Lindsea Vaudt 3 0-0 6, Emilee Hashley 6 0-5 12, Brooke Watkins 1 0-0 3, Ashley Waggener 1 1-1 3, Reegan Bennett 2 0-0 4. Totals: 17 7-18

3-point goals: Libby 5 (Mee 2, B. Martin 3), Glacier 2 (Watkins, Cutler). Total fouls: Libby 18, Glacier 15. Fouled out: Hashley, A. Martin.