Kenney's big night lifts Polson
Flathead’s Tess Brenneman loses control of the ball while being overwhelmed by two Polson defenders during Tuesday evening’s nonconference game at Flathead High School.
Polson's Riley Kenney put on quite the show at the free-throw line, sinking 14 of 17 attempts en route to a 30-point performance in the Pirates' 61-50 nonconference girls basketball victory Tuesday over Flathead at Flathead High School.
Kenney, a 5-foot-10 junior forward, was nine of 12 shooting at the charity stripe in the final period.
Polson's Mackenzie Banner was even more deadly at the line, making all eight of her shots. Six came in the final period.
For the game, Polson enjoyed a big edge at the line, going 25 of 36.
Flathead had just 11 attempts, making six.
"That was the difference right there - free throws," Flathead coach Karly Tait said.
"We have to foul less and make more free throws on our end."
Polson, up 17-12 at the half, led at all four quarter stops.
Banner added 10 points for Polson.
Brittany Earnest and Jenessa Heine both scored 10 for Flathead.
"We need to clean up our defense," Tait added.
"We reach too much, we put ourselves in foul trouble."
While the game got off to a slow start, it ended with a flury. Polson outscored Flathead 27-23 in the final eight minutes.
"We hit some good shots down the stretch, but they knocked down free throws," Tait said.
"I'm proud of the girls for not giving up. We played hard until the last buzzer."
Flathead hosts Whitefish on Friday.
Polson 9 8 17 27 - 61
Flathead 5 7 15 23 - 50
POLSON - Mackenzie Banner 10, Nina Orozco-Charlo 4, Breanne Kelley 8, Riley Kenney 30, Jonna Grant 8, Heidi Rausch 1.
FLATHEAD - Emma Andrews 4, Sam Thompson 2, Tess Brenneman 7, Ashlee O'Dell 4, Brittany Earnest 10, Cassie Krueger 8, Jenessa Heine 10, Danika Johnson 5.
Bigfork 63, Libby 28
BIGFORK - Caitlin Charlebois scored 19 points, Quinci Paine 16 and Mallery Knoll 14 as Bigfork rolled to an easy nonconference victory over Libby.
Bigfork (10-1 overall) is now 4-1 versus Class A schools this season.
Bigfork led 34-15 at the half and outscored Libby 18-3 in the third period.
Melissa Van Derveer led the victors in rebounds with nine and Taylor Peck pulled down six.
Peck led in assists with six and Knoll had a team-high four steals.
Jaime Gilden did the bulk of Libby's scoring, finishing with 16 points.
Charlebois was 5 for 5 at the free-throw line.
"The kids played well, as a team," Bigfork coach Mark Hansen said.
"We had 19 assists as a team."
Libby 5 10 3 10 - 28
Bigfork 17 17 18 11 - 63
LIBBY - Alysha Martin 2, Jaime Gilden 16, Logan Best 2, Taylor Barton 2, Ashley Shaw 2, Kim Tangen 4.
BIGFORK - Mallery Knoll 14, McKinze Shults 6, Quinci Paine 16, Taylor Peck 4, Melissa Van Derveer 2, Caitlin Charlebois 19, Kate Lamm 2.
Boys
Flathead 61,
Polson 57
POLSON - Matt McLean hit some big threes down the stretch to help Flathead hold off Polson (5-5) in a nonconference battle.
McLean finished with 14 points.
Ian Gillespie paced Flathead with 20 points.
Polson only had four players score, led by Louis Mohr's 21.
Kyle Bagnell added 18 for the Pirates.
Flathead 16 8 18 19 - 61
Polson 15 12 18 12 - 57
FLATHEAD - Mike VanArendonk 5, Matt McLean 14, Ian Gillespie 20, Joe Pistorese 8, George Sherwood 2, Shea Schroeder 2, Scotty Keller 2, Garth West 8.
POLSON - Tyler Krell 10, Vince DiGiallonardo 8, Kyle Bagnell 18, Louis Mohr 21.