Glacier vs. Flathead hoops: Playoff positioning on the line
TODAY: Glacier Wolfpack girls (7-12 overall, 2-9 conference) vs. Flathead Bravettes (3-14, 0-10); Glacier Wolfpack boys (13-6, 7-4) vs. Flathead Braves (9-8, 5-5).
TIPOFF: Girls at 6 p.m.; Boys at 8 p.m. at Flathead High.
SERIES RECORD (GIRLS): Glacier 3, Flathead 2
LAST MEETING: Glacier turned a three-point lead at halftime into 10 heading into the fourth quarter thanks to an impressive defensive effort that limited the Bravettes to five points in the third. After that, the Wolfpack held on to win 49-38. Flathead’s Brittany Earnest led all scorers with 15 points off five 3-pointers. Glacier’s Rachel Cutler led the Wolfpack with 11 points.
VICTORY DROUGHT: Both teams are hoping to snap losing streaks in this final week of the regular season. Glacier hasn’t won since the last crosstown meeting on Feb. 5 and carries a five-game losing streak into tonight’s regular-season finale. At the same time, Flathead has lost eight-straight dating back to Jan. 22 and after tonight has one game remaining against Missoula Hellgate (1-9) at home on Saturday.
SEASON LEADERS: Cutler, a junior, is leading the Wolfpack in scoring with 10.15 points per game. Danika Johnson, a junior, leads the Bravettes with 9.7 ppg. Tess Brenneman has been Flathead’s team leader the past two games with scores of 17 and 11 points against the Helena schools last weekend.
CURRENT STANDING: The Wolfpack is as high as it can get in the standings — fifth place — and well behind fourth place Missoula Sentinel (7-3). Flathead is in seventh, one game behind Hellgate.
SERIES RECORD (BOYS): Flathead 3, Glacier 3
LAST MEETING: In the best game of the three-year crosstown history, Flathead edged Glacier 71-65 in overtime. Sophomore George Sherwood scored a game-high 21 points and senior Tanner Salois had 18. Glacier led by four points with roughly two minutes left and Flathead kept within three down the stretch. With 19 seconds left, the Braves gained control of the ball and Salois hit the game-tying 3-pointer, his fourth of the game, with just over three seconds left to send it into overtime, where Flathead muscled out its first crosstown win in just under two years.
REMATCH EXPECTATIONS: Excitement is to be expected, to say the least. In the first of two meeting’s this season, the two teams combined for 18 3-pointers in a back-and-forth slugfest. The biggest lead in the second half was five points.
CURRENT STREAK: Since losing to Flathead on Feb. 5, the Wolfpack has won four of five and sits tied for second in Western AA heading into tonight’s regular-season finale. Glacier is tied with Helena Capital, who lost to first place Missoula Sentinel 49-42 on Thursday.
The Braves have lost two straight and are tied with Helena (5-5) for fourth place with one more game after tonight — against Missoula Hellgate (2-9) on Saturday. In order to host a playoff game, the Braves will need a win tonight and get help from Missoula Big Sky (2-8) and Missoula Sentinel (9-2), the two teams remaining on Helena’s schedule.
PRESSURE TESTED: Flathead has played in three overtime games (3-0) and five games decided by six or fewer (4-1) this season. Meanwhile, Glacier has played in four overtime games (3-1) and had eight games decided by six points or fewer (6-2).
SEASON LEADERS: Glacier senior Shay Smithwick-Hann is sixth in AA in scoring with 15.3 ppg and third in rebounding with 9.5 rpg. Flathead senior Karl Ingram is 10th in scoring with 13.8 ppg and seventh with 6.8 rpg. Glacier has two others in double-digit scoring — senior Grahm Schmaltz, 11.1 ppg, and senior Connor Fuller, 11.1 ppg. The same goes for the Braves — Salois is the team’s second leading scorer with 11.2 ppg and Sherwood follows with 10.5 ppg.