Eureka girls whip Bigfork
<p>Bigfork’s Shelby Scoggins (right) and Eureka’s Alex Holland collide while going for a loose ball Thursday night during the Valkyries’ District 7B loss to visiting Eureka.</p>
<p>Bigfork junior Tessa Robertson gets a wide open shot under the basket Thursday night during Bigfork’s contest with Eureka.</p>
BIGFORK — The Eureka Lady Lions opened their District 7B schedule with a 40-24 win over Bigfork at Bigfork High School Thursday.
Eureka (1-1 overall) pulled away with an 8-0 second-quarter run that made the score 18-8, then put the game out of reach by outscoring the Valkyries 15-2 in the third quarter.
Bigfork (0-3) won both regular season contests against Eureka last season before losing to the Lady Lions in the district tournament title game.
“It’s always a tough one against Bigfork,” Eureka coach R.J. McDole said. “Bigfork has been the team to beat in this district the last four years, so any time you come here and get a win is big.”
Eureka held Bigfork to 12 points through the first three quarters with its unconventional 1-2-2 zone defense. Six-foot-1 Bigfork center Tessa Robertson scored 13 of her team’s 24 points, but had just two putbacks after offensive rebounds, despite towering over 5-10 Eureka center Cassidy Morgan.
“They did a good job collapsing on Tessa, which most teams will do,” Bigfork coach Mark Hansen said. “You’ve got to give them some credit because they kind of kept us out of the middle.”
On the other end of the floor, Morgan attacked Robertson off the dribble, both in transition and half-court sets, and finished with 10 points.
“We have some post players that are pretty good ball-handlers,” McDole said. “We don’t need to wait to get it out to a guard. They can grab it and go.”
Eureka guard Alex Holland scored a game-high 14 points and sparked the Lady Lions’ second-quarter run by drawing a foul on a three-point attempt, hitting the shot and converting the free throw.
After a Bigfork turnover, Morgan extended the run with a putback, then Holland knocked down a pair of free throws give Eureka an 18-8 advantage with 5 minutes and 54 seconds to go in the half.
A minute later, Morgan went to the bench after picking up her second foul and Bigfork switched its defense from a 2-3 to man-to-man. The result was a four-minute scoring drought for Eureka, but Bigfork failed to capitalize and went into halftime trailing 20-10.
“We’re low on numbers so I have to wait through the first quarter before making subs,” Hansen said. “Some of our younger girls are pretty quick, so (man-to-man is) a better defense for the younger group.”
Eureka attacked Bigfork’s man-to-man defense after the break and opened the third quarter with an 8-0 run. Robertson halted the run with a transition layup before the Lady Lions closed out the quarter with seven unanswered points to take a 35-12 lead.
Bigfork outscored Eureka 12-5 in the fourth quarter.
“We’re young and taking little steps,” Hansen said. “I thought the girls played hard the whole game, but it’s hard to keep your enthusiasm up when the ball’s not going in the hole.”
Holland said winning the conference opener should give Eureka confidence heading into the rest of its conference games.
“I think it puts us ahead already,” she said.
Both teams return to the hardwood Saturday. Eureka travels to Ronan and Bigfork heads to Plains.
Eureka 8 12 15 5 — 40
Bigfork 6 4 2 12 — 24
EUREKA — Alex Holland 14, Cassidy Morgan 10, Carli Allen 4, Alyssa White 3, Mikayla Grove 3, Whitney Williams 2, Nicole Anderson 2, Caitlin Larson, Brianna Lindgren.
BIGFORK — Tessa Robertson 13, Josie Spoklie 5, Ellessa Henion 2, Alicia Cadrette 2, Shelby Scoggins.