Eureka girls stun No. 3 Vals

COLUMBIA FALLS - One adjustment made all the difference for the Eureka Lady Lions.

Beaten twice this year by the Bigfork Valkyries (once by 24 points, once by nine), the Lions decided to try something different.

It worked.

The Lions (11-9) claimed the District 7B Tournament championship on Saturday night with a 38-31 victory over the No. 3-ranked Vals (16-4).

"In our minds, if we took Taylor Peck out of the game ... she's the one who makes the gears go for Bigfork. We took her out of the game, box and oned her the entire time. I had a senior and junior put a box on her - they worked their tails off," said Eureka coach R.J. McDole.

"We worked on it all week, trying to prepare for this game," he said.

Peck had one field goal and was 1-for-2 from the free throw line.

"When you can do that to a girl who is that good, that caliber of senior, who has been around that long... it was huge for us," McDole said.

"You could see it in Bigfork's faces. They didn't know what to do without Taylor being able to run the offense for them."

"You've got to give Eureka credit. They did a nice job. They beat us pretty soundly on the boards tonight and that usually doesn't happen," said Bigfork coach Mark Hansen.

"They took Taylor out of the ballgame and the rest of the kids didn't really step up and respond for some reason tonight," Hansen said.

"We made it bigger than it was and it's always harder when you put all that weight on your shoulders," he added.

"But we'll bounce back - we have for the last three years - and hopefully play a little better next weekend."

This one was nip-and-tuck from the opening tip.

The biggest lead for the first 3 1/2 quarters was four points.

There were six ties throughout and with 46 seconds to play, the contest was tied at 31-all.

But in those last 46 seconds, Bigfork was whistled for five fouls. It had 10 fouls in the fourth quarter. Eureka took 22 free throws in the fourth quarter - 10 in the final 46 seconds.

It made 13, seven in the final minute.

"We fouled way too much in the fourth quarter and they made us pay," Hansen said.

"I don't know why we were fouling when we were ahead, but we were ... young girls, that's part of basketball. We keeping moving on."

Free throws "have been an Achilles' heel for us all season. To come out and hit the free throws we did down the stretch ... Cass Morgan finished beautifully," McDole said.

"She hit some great free throws down the stretch," he said.

Morgan led the Lions with 10 points, all from the charity stripe - eight of them in the final frame.

"Every girl contributed tonight. Even if they don't think they did, they did," McDole said.

Sophomore Tessa Robertson led the Vals with eight points.

"(The Vals) are a dynamite team. They have three seniors who are animals and they play hard from start to finish. Bigfork is a great team," he added.

"We came ready to play tonight."

Eureka 7 9 6 16 - 38

Bigfork 6 10 9 6 - 31

Eureka - Alex Holland 3 0-0 6, Mikayla Grove 2 0-1 5, Alyssa White 2 2-6 8, Brooke Williams 0 1-2 1, Cassidy Morgan 0 10-16 10, Kendra Chupp 0 4-5 4, Carli Allen 2 0-2 4. Totals 9 17-32 38.

Bigfork - Stevi Siloti 1 0-0 2, McKinze Shults 1 1-2 4, Shelby Scoggins 1 4-6 6, Taylor Peck 1 1-2 3, Melissa VanDerveer 1 3-4 5, Tessa Robertson 3 2-2 8, Riley Coleman 1 0-0 3. Totals 9 11-16 31.

3-point goals: Eureka 3 (Grove 1, White 2), Bigfork 1 (Riley Coleman). Total fouls: Eureka 16, Bigfork 20. Fouled out: Robertson.