Prep Basketball: Glacier girls net 1st league win; Kats spank Pirates

Ashlee Waggener scored 16 points and Baylee Quay added 15 as the Glacier Wolfpack picked up its first conference win of the girls basketball season with a 62-55 victory over visiting Missoula Hellgate on Thursday.

The Wolfpack (6-7, 1-4) built a 33-20 lead at the half, then held on for dear life in the third quarter.

“What killed us in the second half ... Raina Walther had five 3s,” said Glacier coach Kris Salonen.

Plus, Mary Yoder scored 18 of her game-high 24 points in the second half.

“They just ended up having a little bit more of a balanced attack,” Salonen said.

The key for Glacier was that it answered well offensively. Seven points was as close as the Knights could get.

“Ashlee Waggener really stepped up. She was the key in the first half,” the coach said.

“It was a good all-around offensive effort. For us to score 62 points, we finally got going.”

Rachel Cutler added 14 for the Wolfpack and Brooke Watkins contributed nine.

The Wolfpack plays host at 6 tonight to the Flathead Bravettes.

Hellgate     12     8     15     20     —      55

Glacier      16     17     9     20     —     62

MISSOULA HELLGATE — Raina Walther 6 0-0 17, Jackie Wells 1 0-0 2, Piper Frame 1 0-2 2,  Leyna Downey 2 2-2 6, Mary Yoder 10 4-5 24, Lacey Zinke 2 0-0 4. Totals 22 6 -9 55

Glacier — Rachel Cutler 5 2-2 14, Sydney Sharaf 0 2-2 2, Baylee Quay 6 3-6 15, Patty Hughes 1 1-2 3, Brooke Watkins 3 0-0 9, Ashlee Waggener 6 3-3 16, McKell Bennett 1 1-2 3. Totals 22 12-17 62.

3-point goals 5 (Walther 5), Glacier 6 (Watkins 3, Cutler 2, Waggenner 1). Total fouls: Hellgate 17, Glacier 10. Fouled out: None.

Bigfork 67, Plains 22

PLAINS — Kailey Fierro, Mallery Knoll and Quinci Paine scored 11 points each in Bigfork’s 67-22 demolition of Plains on Thursday in a District 7B girls basketball contest.

Melissa VanDerveer also hit double figure scoring for the seventh-ranked Valkyries with 10 points.

Bigfork     19     22     15     11     –     67

Plains     4     5     7     6     –     22

BIGFORK (12-3, 9-0) – Mallery Knoll 11, Quinci Paine 11, Lila Cenis 9, Taylor Peck 7, Caitlin Charlebois 6, Kristin Wall 2, McKenze Shults 4, Melissa VanDerveer 10, Kailey Fierro 11.

PLAINS (3-12, 2-5) – Lacey Hermiston 4, Heather Earhart 3, Kayla Revier 9, Alexis Kunzer 2, Kelsey Beagley 3, Nicky Kunzer 1.

 Eureka 55, Whitefish 28

EUREKA — Steph Vogelman scored 14 points and Carly Hammond added seven points, six steals and seven assists as the Eureka Lions downed Northwestern A Whitefish in a nonconference game.

Tayler Holder added 10 points, six rebounds and four steals to the Eureka effort.

“I thought our kids played very well all night tonight,” said Eureka coach John Hammond.

“We did a little bit of halfcourt trapping and it was effective. Everybody who stepped on the floor gave us quality minutes,” he added.

The Lions (8-7, 6-2) are at Plains for a doubleheader on Saturday. Varsity girls game time is 4:30 p.m.

Whitefish     2     8     10     8 — 28

Eureka     12     16     14     13 — 55

    Whitefish — Olivia Nagler 0 1-2 1, Jessica Slaybaugh 4 0-0 9, Mariah Kanistanaux 0 2-2 2, Alayna Voigt 1 0-0 3, Shelby Backer 4 5-6 13. Totals 9 8 -10 28.

Eureka — Tayler Holder 5 0-0 10, Carly Hammond 2 2-3 7, Selene Elster 0 2-4 2, Alyssa White 2 2-4 7, Courtney Dickinson 3 2-2 9, Cassidy Morgan 2 2-2 6, Steph Vogelman 7 0-0 14. Totals 21 10-15 55.

3-point goals: Whitefish 2 (Slaybaugh 1, Voigt 1), Eureka 3 (Hammond 1, White 1, Dickinson 1). Total fouls: Whitefish 14, Eureka 7. Fouled out: Backer.

Columbia Falls 61, Polson 40

POLSON — Kayla DeWit scored 15 of her game-high 25 points in the first half as Columbia Falls crushed Polson in a Northwestern A battle for first place.

Kelsey DeWit added 13 points for the Wildkats (9-5, 4-0).

“Columbia Falls they got after us early,” Polson coach Randy Kelley said.

“Kayla DeWit is a handful. She hurt us early.”

Columbia Falls led 25-16 at the break and outscored the Pirates 36-24 in the final half.

Both teams came into the contest perfect in league play.

Mariah Hamel led Polson (11-3, 4-1) in scoring with 11 points.

Columbia Falls    13    12    18    18    —    61

Polson    9    7    13    11    —    40

COLUMBIA FALLS (9-5, 4-0) — Ashli Fairbank 3 0-0 6, Kayla DeWit 12 1-1 25, Brooke Cady 1 1-1 3, Shay Grilley 5 0-0 12, Jonna Werner 1 0-0 2, Kelsey DeWit 6 1-1 13. Totals: 28 3-3 61.

POLSON (11-3, 4-1) — Mariah Hamel 3 2-5 11, Sierra Pete 2 2-2 6, Breanne Kelley 1 3-5 5, Riley Kenney 2 3-4 7, Kayla Duford 1 1-2 3, Nicole Davey 3 1-2 7, Heidi Rausch 0 1-2 1. Totals: 12 13-22 40.

3-point goals: Grilley (2); Hamel (3); Team fouls: Columbia Falls 16, Polson 9; Fouled out: Grilley.

            Boys

Whitefish 69,

Eureka 45

WHITEFISH — Conner Silliker tossed in 17 points and Gage Vasquez added 14 and Cooper Olson 11 as Whitefish cruised to an easy nonconference victory over Eureka.

Whitefish (4-10 overall) held a 32-15 lead at the half.

Drew Galbraith led WHS in rebounding with seven, while Austin Green and Silliker both had six. Green and Olson were the assist leaders with four each.

Eureka’s Tanner Blankers led all scorers with 21 points and Ryan Holder finished with 14.

Whitefish plays at Frenchtown tonight.

Eureka    9    6    12    18    —    45

Whitefish    15    17    19    18    —    69

EUREKA (3-12) — Jesse Thomson 2 0-0 4, Ryan Holder 6 1-1 14, Tanner Blankers 10 0-0 21, Josh Soderling 1 0-0 2, Bryton Guckenberg 2 0-1 4. Totals: 21 1-2 45.

WHITEFISH (4-10) — Chris Forrest 2 1-2 5, Mac Roche 2 0-0 4, Kyler Blades 1 0-0 2, Austin Green 1 0-0 2, Cole Havens 0 2-2 2, Gage Vasquez 7 0-0 14, Cooper Olson 4 0-0 11, Jace Kalbfleisch 1 0-0 2, Connor Silliker 8 1-2 17, Cliff Clark 1 0-1 2, Drew Galbraith 3 2-4 8. Totals: 30 6-11 69.

3-point goals: Holder, Blankers; Olson (3), Kalbfleisch; Team fouls: Eureka 10, Whitefish 11; Fouled out: None.

Bigfork 72, Plains 57

BIGFORK — Bigfork wrapped up the regular-season District 7B title by whipping Plains.

Ian Lorang scored seven of his nine points in the final quarter to spark Bigfork. The No. 3-ranked Vikings outscored the Horsemen 23-9 in the last eight minutes to break open a tight game.

“I think our pressure defense finally caught up with them and that started creating easy transition buckets for us,” Bigfork coach Paul La Mott.

Christian Ker and Carter Sorenson shared scoring honors for Bigfork with 13 points apiece.Travis Knoll was next with 11. Ker also had three blocks.

Lael Richmond had a team-best 10 rebounds, followed by Ker with nine and Keenan Evans with eight. Richmond had five steals, Evan Jordt four, Sorenson three and  Knoll three.

Bigfork concludes 7B play on Saturday at home with Troy.

Plains    18    18    12    9    —    57

Bigfork    17    21    11    23    —    72

PLAINS — (12-2, 7-2) Kyle Hermiston 3 4-5 11, Dillon Fryxell 2 0-3 5, Brian Green 3 0-4 6, Bryce Benson 3 1-2 7, Trent Thompson 11 4-4 28. Totals: 22 9-18 57.

BIGFORK (14-1, 9-0) — Carter Sorenson 3 5-5 13, Lael Richmond 2 1-2 5, Ian Lorang 3 3-4 9, Evan Jordt 2 4-6 8, Travis Knoll 5 1-2 11, Christian Ker 4 4-6 13, Keenan Evans 4 1-1 9, Dillon Fraley 1 2-4 4. Totals: 24 21-30 72.

3-point goals: Hermiston, Fryxell, Thompson (2); Sorenson (2), Ker; Team fouls: Plains 18, Bigfork 17; Fouled out: None.

Columbia Falls 66, Libby 34

COLUMBIA FALLS — Senior Kyle Howell scored a game-high 18 points, sophomore Austin Barth followed with 11 and the Wildcats earned an important Northwestern A victory after a monster second quarter.

Howell had 10 of Columbia Falls’ 28 points in the second quarter and Parker Johnson added five as the Wildcats outscored the Loggers by 23 points to take a 38-12 lead at halftime.

“We transitioned from our defense to our offense very well in that quarter,” Columbia Falls coach Cary Finberg said. “If we play like that we’re very fun to watch, and if we can play like that we’ll be tough to beat.”

The Wildcats improved to 12-2 overall and 4-0 in league.

Libby was paced by Kelly May’s 11 points and drops to 7-7 overall and 3-2 in league for third place.

Columbia Falls has a tough league contest tonight at home against Polson at 7:30 p.m. Libby heads to Ronan on Saturday.

Libby    7    5    11    11    —    34

Columbia Falls    10    28    13    15    —    66

LIBBY (7-7, 3-2) — Kelly May 4 2-4 11, Alex Cislo 4 1-2 9, Nate Brom 2 0-0 4, Cree Maloney 1 1-2 4, TJ Benson 2 0-0 4, Colton Cannon 1 0-0 2.

COLUMBIA FALLS (12-2, 4-0) — Kyle Howell 6 4-6 18, Austin Barth 4 3-6 11, Devyn Rocker 2 0-0 5, Parker Johnson 1 2-4 5, Tim Spencer 3 0-0 6, Mitchell Wassam 3 0-0 6, Kaleb Johnson 3 0-0 6, Michael Williams 3 1-2 7, Jacob Calderwood 1 0-0 2.

3-point goals — Libby 2 (Maloney, May), Columbia Falls 4 (Howell 2, Rocker, Johnson); Rebounds — Libby 18, Columbia Falls 39 (Howell 9, Johnson 8, Barth 6); Turnovers — Columbia Falls 10, Libby 19; Team fouls — Libby 13, Columbia Falls 9; Fouled out — None.

Glacier 59, Missoula Hellgate 54

MISSOULA — Glacier closed with a strong fourth quarter to overtake Missoula Hellgate for a 59-54 victory in Western AA boys basketball action.

“We were down by eight points in the fourth quarter,” Glacier coach Mark Harkins said.

“The kids made a run and pulled it out.”

Glacier outscored Hellgate 16-6 in the final quarter.

Hellgate held a one-point edge after the first and second periods to lead 28-26 at the half.

Shay Smithwick-Hann led Glacier (9-4, 3-2) with 27 points and nine rebounds.

Harkins said Colter Hanson had a great third quarter “that got us going offensively.

“Connor Fuller had a great game at the point with 13 points and five assists.”

Hanson finished with nine points.

Glacier continues with Western AA play tonight, hosting rival Flathead at 8 p.m.

Glacier    16    10    17    16    —    59

Hellgate    17    11    20    6    —    54

GLACIER — Shay Smithwick-Hann 9 4-5 27, Logan Quay 1 0-0 2, Grahm Schmaltz 2 0-0 5, Colter Hanson 4 1-2 9, Connor Fuller 3 4-5 13, Bryan Chery 0-0-0, Marshall Boyland 0-0-0, Freddie Blodnick 0 0-0 0, Trey Griffith 0 3-4 3, Mario Venturini 0 0-0 0. Totals 19 9-12 59

HELLGATE — Hall 4 2-2 11, Nick Joscelyn 1 4-4 7, Brent Daugherty 2 1-2 6, Conner Weston 3 0-2 6, Jesse Ginn 2 4-6 8, Ben Hartmann 2 1-1 6, Carsen Hopfauf 1 3-6 5, Dan Clucas 0 1-2 1, Zach Peevey 2 0-0 4. Totals 17 16-25 54.

3-point goals — Glacier 8 (Smithwick-Hann 4, Fuller 3, Schmaltz), Hellgate 4 (Hall, Joscelyn, Daugherty, Hartmann); Rebounds — Glacier 23 (Smithwick-Hann 9), Hellgate 27 (Hall 7); Turnovers — Glacier 15, Hellgate 17; Team fouls — Glacier 19, Hellgate 16; Fouled out — None.