Columbia Falls crumples Whitefish
Whitefish's Shelby Backer (22) and Alayna Voigt defend against Columbia Falls' Kelsey DeWit as she looks to pass to Danielle Gilley during Saturday's game.
COLUMBIA FALLS — Getting a lead has not been a major problem for Columbia Falls this season.
Holding it, at times, has.
Until Saturday night.
The Wildkats doubled the score on Whitefish in the opening eight minutes and gradually pulled away from there for a 62-24 Northwestern A girls basketball victory.
“Tonight I challenged them,” Columbia Falls coach Dan Fairbank said.
“I said if we get up and we get a lead, to go harder, to push and push.”
And the Wildkats did just that.
Kayla DeWit, a junior center, came within two points of matching her season high with a 22-point performance to lead all scorers. She helped the offense get on track early by scoring nine points in the opening quarter. DeWit scored 24 on Friday against Ronan and has scored at least 22 in her previous three games.
Her older sister Kelsey totaled 14 points and Shay Grilley chipped in with 11.
The 62 points was a season high for the Wildkats, while the 24 allowed was a season best for the defense.
“I was happy,” Fairbank said.
“The kids really played hard from buzzer to buzzer.”
The victory was the fourth straight for the Wildkats, who improve to 6-4 overall and 3-0 in league. Whitefish falls to 0-9 and 0-3.
“We didn’t play very well tonight,” Whitefish coach Sean Duff said.
“We’re much better than the way we played.”
Duff said Whitefish came in trying to force a taller and more physical Columbia Falls squad to shoot from the outside. But the DeWit sisters and Grilley would have none of that and battled inside for some tough points.
“They got a ton,” Duff said of second-chance baskets.
Whitefish stayed within reach until early in the second period. Trailing 18-11, a Jessica Slaybaugh trey went in and out. That would have cut the deficit to four points.
Columbia Falls responded with an 11-1 run to take a commanding 29-12 lead and basically put the game away.
Slaybaugh and Oliva Curtiss shared scoring honors for Whitefish with eight points each.
“We have to keep our spirits up,” Duff said.
“I don’t care if we get beat by 80, everyone has to keep their heads up.
“I still have all the confidence in the world in these kids,” he added.
“Losing is never fun, they’re tired of losing. That just makes you want it (winning) even more.”
Whitefish 9 7 3 5 — 24
Columbia Falls 18 15 11 18 — 62
WHITEFISH — Olivia Nagler 0 0-4 0, Taylor Havens 0 2-3 2, Jessica Slaybaugh 3 1-2 8, Alayna Voigt 1 0-0 3, Shelby Backer 1 1-2 3, Oliva Curtiss 2 4-5 8. Totals: 7 8-16 24.
COLUMBIA FALLS — Kayla Stratton 0 1-2 1, Dani Gilley 0 0-2 0, Ashli Fairbank 1 0-0 2, Kayla DeWit 8 6-8 22, Alli Lampman 1 2-2 4, Brooke Cady 1 3-4 5, Courtney White 0 0-1 0, Shay Grilley 5 1-3 11, Jonna Werner 1 1-2 3, Kelsey DeWit 7 0-2 14. Totals: 24 14-26 62.
3-point goals: Slaybaugh, Voigt; Team fouls: Whitefish 18, Columbia Falls 17; Fouled out: None.