Wildkats carry top seed into tourney
The biggest question at this year’s Northwestern A girls divisional basketball tournament is whether or not the DeWit sisters and Co. can be stopped.
Up until last week, the answer was no. Then on Feb. 17, Jackie Mee and the surging Libby Loggers handed Columbia Falls only its second conference loss in two years, 51-44 in Libby.
That stands as the only blemish on the Wildkats’ resume entering today’s five-team, three-day divisional at Glacier High. The regular-season champs, led by 6-foot-plus sisters Kelsey and Kayla DeWit, are looking to defend their division title from last year and move on to the state tournament in Hamilton, which starts March 11.
This year’s divisional is set up differently from year’s past because of Bigfork’s move to Class B. Columbia Falls (12-6 overall, 7-1 in conference) has a bye until Friday along with No. 2 seed Libby (13-5, 6-2) and No. 3 Polson (13-5, 5-3), who face off that day at 4 p.m.
No. 4 Ronan (1-17, 1-7) and No. 5 Whitefish (1-17, 1-7) kick off the tournament today at 6 p.m. The top two teams still advance to state but this year the No. 1 seed (Columbia Falls) will have an automatic challenge game for second place if they lose throughout.
Libby and Polson are both viable contenders for playing Saturday night and sit as close as possible in the final regular season standings.
The Loggers have one of the best players in the state, Mee, and are winners of eight-straight, with victories against the Wildkats and the Pirates coming in that span.
Mee, a senior with over 1,200 career points, edged out Kayla DeWit for the regular season scoring title with a 19.47 points per game average. DeWit, a junior, is second with 19.11 ppg, and Kelsey DeWit, a senior, follows with 14.33 ppg.
Mee is aided by Libby’s second top-scorer, junior Jaime Gilden (9.78 ppg).
“I told the girls about momentum. We had two real nice wins last week (against Polson and Columbia Falls) and now for us to have a chance to accomplish our goals we have to keep that going,” Libby head coach Jim May, in his 14th year, said. “We have a monumental challenge ahead of us.”
Polson at one point this season looked destined to trip Columbia Falls and take the regular season title. The Pirates entered February tied for first place at 4-0 in conference were ranked fifth in Class A with an 11-2 record. Since then, Polson has won only two of the last five games and is no longer ranked.
“We’re a very athletic group but we’ve kind of lost our focus the last few weeks,” Polson third-year head coach Randy Kelley said. “We just have to play with a little bit more confidence than we have been.”
The Pirates have four scorers in the top 10 in Northwestern A — Breanne Kelley (11.72 ppg), Riley Kenney (10.78 ppg), Nicole Davey (9.71 ppg) and Sierra Pete (9.39 ppg).
The top three teams are closely matched in scoring. Columbia Falls leads with 52.72 ppg, Polson is next with 50.28 ppg and Libby is third with 47.61 ppg.