Glacier girls keep it rolling, beat Libby
Glacier junior Rachel Cutler (10) makes a pass as she is guarded by Libby junior Alyshia Martin (22) during their game on Saturday. Glacier went on to win the match up 49-27.
The Glacier girls passed the final test of their grueling week.
Junior Rachel Cutler led the way for the weary Wolfpack for the second day in a row with a game-high 14 points and Glacier picked up its third win in four games after defeating shorthanded Libby 49-27 in nonconference girls basketball on Saturday.
With finals week at Glacier High wrapping up on Friday, the Wolfpack girls were still faced with tough back-to-back Northwestern A home tests. Glacier excelled in both, winning a thrilling battle to the end against Columbia Falls on Friday followed up with a 14-2 run at the end the first half on Saturday that set the Wolfpack up for success in the long run.
The win gave Glacier (5-5) its first two-game win streak since the end of last season when the girls beat Missoula Hellgate and Flathead on Feb. 24 and 27, respectively.
“It’s been an exhausting couple weeks for us,” Glacier head coach Kris Salonen said. “I told them it’s OK to smile and enjoy this, but I understand that they’re just tired. They played so hard last night and came back today and just stepped up that defensive full-court pressure. We had that one little roll there where Libby just couldn’t get it past half court.
“I just told them that I’m proud of them but we still have a lot of work ahead of us.”
Glacier got seven points from junior Paige Latimer and six from junior Ashlee Waggener and had 10 scorers overall contribute in the well-balanced team victory.
“We’re on a team thing right now, we’re really thinking five girls on the court and that’s what we need to stick to,” Salonen said.
Junior Jaime Gilden paced the Loggers (5-5) with nine points, LaRona Luscher had seven and Sheena Good added five.
Libby was without the top scorer in Northwestern A, senior Jackie Mee, and it showed on the offensive end. Glacier’s full-court defense flustered the Loggers all game and forced 20 turnovers. Mee, who is averaging 20 points per game, is nursing a wrist injury and the team hopes to get her back sometime next week, head coach Jim May said.
“I spent six years in Columbia Falls coaching against Jim May and I just knew his girls would still play hard (despite not having Mee), and they did,” Salonen said.
Cutler revved up the big run with a deep 3-pointer that broke a 9-all tie near the end of the first quarter and the momentum carried into halftime as the score settled at 23-11 at the break.
“I thought it started out well. I thought the tempo was nice and we were battling with them,” May said. “We forced them into some misses but we had some breaks that we didn’t take advantage of. We really could’ve, should’ve had a lead at the end of the first quarter but then we just got flat. On offense we just started playing around the defense instead of through it, and it kind of carried over on our defensive end. We were lucky to only be down 12 at half,”
Nicole Heavirland scored five and Baylee Quay and Sydney Sharaf each added four for Glacier.
The Wolfpack enters the bulk of Western AA action with a home game against Helena Capital (5-5) on Friday at 7:30 p.m.
Libby heads to Eureka (6-6) on Thursday night for a nonconference game.
Libby 9 2 6 10 — 27
Glacier 12 11 17 9 — 49
LIBBY (5-5) — Sheena Good 2 1-2 5, Jaime Gilden 4 1-2 9, LaRona Luscher 2 2-2 7, Alyshia Martin 2 0-1 4, Alex Kulbeck 1 0-0 2, Kim Tangen 0 0-0 0, Logan Best 0 0-0 0. Totals 11 4-7 27
GLACIER (5-5) — Rachel Cutler 6 1-1 14, Paige Latimer 2 3-4 7, Cami Mathison 1 0-0 2, Sydney Sharaf 2 0-0 4, Nicole Heavirland 2 1-2 5, Baylee Quay 1 2-2 4, Patty Hughes 1 0-0 2, Brooke Watkins 1 1-1 3, Ashlee Waggener 3 0-0 6, McKell Bennett 1 0-0 2. Totals 20 8-10 49.
3-point goals — Libby 1 (Luscher), Glacier 1 (Cutler); Rebounds — Libby 25, Glacier 16; Turnovers — Libby 20, Glacier 9; Team fouls — Libby 9, Glacier 13; Fouled out — None