District 7B Tourney: Elster lifts Eureka over Thompson Falls

LIBBY — Selene Elster’s field goal with 2.7 seconds remaining gave Eureka a 53-52 come-from-behind victory over Thompson Falls on Friday in semifinal play at the District 7B girls basketball tournament.

Eureka (11-8) trailed by three points with 8.9 seconds left when Alyssa White was fouled on a three-point shot. White made all three free throws, but stepped on the line on her first one. That left Eureka one-point short.

“We pressured the inbounds pass, caused a turnover,” Eureka coach John Hammond said on the ensuing play.

“We got the ball in the corner and set up another inbounds play.”

Eureka passed the ball inside to Steph Vogelman, who attracted a crowd of defenders and promptly passed the ball back out to Elster.

“Selene was open at the top of the key,” Hammond said.

“She drained one with 2.7 seconds left.”

Thompson Falls (9-10) never got a shot off after that.

 “Our kids never gave up and played hard until the buzzer sounded,” Hammond said.

Eureka led by seven points in both the third and fourth periods before the Bluehawks battled back.

Elster finished with nine points and nine rebounds.

“She had a huge game tonight,” Hammond said.

 So did Carly Hammond. She finished with 14 points, four steals and five assists.

Also in double-digit scoring for Eureka were Tayler Holder, 12, and Cassidy Morgan, 11.

It was the third meeting of the season for the two rivals. Eureka won the first two by 22 and 15 points.

Eureka will play Bigfork tonight at 6:30 in the championship game.

Eureka    11    11    9    22    —    53

Thompson Falls    7    12    11    22    —    52

EUREKA — Tayler Holder 5 1-1 12, Carly Hammond 3 5-6 14, Selene Elster 2 5-6 9, Alyssa White 2 2-3 7, Brooke Williams 0 0-2 0, Cassidy Morgan 3 5-8 11, Steph Vogelman 1 0-5 2. Totals: 16 18-31 53.

THOMPSON FALLS — Kelsey Fitchett 4 0-0 9, Makayla Backer 2 3-4 7, Karli Cavill 8 2-2 18, Kyla Molzohn 6 2-6 18. Totals: 20 7-12 52.

3-point goals: Holder, Hammond, White; Fitchett, Molzohn (4); Team fouls: Eureka 12, Thompson Falls 15; Fouled out: Backer, Beca Gunderson; Morgan.

Bigfork 60,

St. Ignatius 25

LIBBY — Top-seed Bigfork (17-2) cruised to an easy second-round victory over St. Ignatius.

The Valkyries, ranked No. 8 in the Class B poll, jumped out to a 31-9 halftime lead.

Mallery Knoll led a balanced attack with 15 points. She had two treys in the contest, both coming in the second quarter.

Caitlin Charlebois followed with 14 points and Taylor Peck added 13.

Kyla Mitchell tallied 12 points for St. Ignatius (9-11).

St. Ignatius    5    4    7    9    —    25

Bigfork    12    19    12    17    —    60

ST. IGNATIUS — Ashley Courville 1 0-0 2, Kyla Mitchell 4 3-4 12, Adessa Durglo 0 0-1 0, Lyssia McDonald 0 2-2 2, Rachel Jansen 1 1-2 3, Katie McDonald 1 3-4 5, Bella Dally 0 1-2 1. Totals: 7 10-14 25.

BIGFORK — Mallery Knoll 5 3-3 15, Kristen Woll 0 1-2 1, Quinci Paine 1 3-4 5, Lila Cenis 1 0-0 2, Taylor Peck 5 1-2 13, Melissa VanDerveer 2 0-1 4, Caitlin Charlebois 5 3-4 14, Kailey Fierro 1 2-4 4, Jessica Killian 1 0-0 2. Totals: 21 13-20 60.

3-point goals: Mitchell; Knoll (2), Peck (2), Charlebois; Team fouls: St. Ignatius 15, Bigfork 15; Fouled out: None.

Boys

Bigfork 56, St. Ignatius 40

LIBBY — Top-seed Bigfork started slow, but gradually pulled away from feisty St. Ignatius (3-17) for a second-round victory.

The fifth-ranked Vikings (16-3) led by two points, 10-8 and 24-22, after the first two quarters. Bigfork outscored St. Ignatius 32-18 in the second half.

Christian Ker, 16 points, was one of  three Bigfork players to hit double digits.  He had four treys in the contest, two coming in the opening quarter. He scored eight of Bigfork’s 10 first-quarter points.

Keenan Evans finished with 11 and Travis Knoll 10.

St. Ignatius’ Jorran Gios led all scorers with 19 points.

Bigfork    10    14    18    14    —    56

St. Ignatius    8    14    12    6    —    40

BIGFORK — Carter Sorensen 2 1-3 6, Lael Richmond 2 0-0 4, Ian Lorang 2 0-2 4, Travis Knoll 4 2-2 10, Cody Dopps 1 0-0 3, Christian Ker 6 0-1 16, Keenan Evans 5 1-6 11, Dillon Fraley 1 0-1 2. Totals: 23 4-15 56.

ST. IGNATIUS — Riley Charlo 0 1-2 1, Dylan Evans 0 1-2 1, Jorran Gios 6 7-9 19, Austin McDonald 1 0-0 2, Spencar Ahlborn 0 2-2 2, Gus Silva 1 1-2 3, Jake Durglo 2 3-4 7, Lakota Matt 1 0-0 2, Josh Durglo 1 1-2 3. Totals: 12 16-23 40.

3-point goals: Sorenson, Dopps, Ker (4); Team fouls: Bigfork 17, St. Ignatius 15; Fouled out: J. Durglo.