Libby girls work past Whitefish
COLUMBIA FALLS — With a deliberate style and a solid overall game, the Libby girls slid into the second round of the Northwestern A Divisional Tournament, beating Whitefish 37-14 on Thursday.
The Loggers grinded out the first few minutes of the game, passing around until they were able to find an open look in an extremely tight Bulldog defense. What they found was space from deep, with freshman guard Hannah England draining a 3-pointer to open the scoring. Hailey Craig buried their next bucket with a toe on the line to give the Loggers a 5-1 lead midway through the first.
“We were very patient on offense because we had to be,” Libby coach Jim May said. “Whitefish made it very tough to swing the ball and very tough to score.”
While Whitefish played strong defense, it struggled mightily to put the ball in the net. The Bulldogs couldn’t buy a bucket, rimming out midrange shots and completely missing a handful of easy layups down low. The Bulldogs didn’t hit their first field goal of the game until 12 minutes in, and trailed 11-4 midway through the second quarter.
“We shot horribly,” Whitefish coach Sean Duff said. “Our girls played with heart and desire but you’ve got to be able to make two-foot shots and free throws. We didn’t do that.”
The Bulldogs shot 8 for 19 from the free-throw line, including 3 for 9 in the first half. Libby wasn’t much better, shooting 12 for 26 from the line.
“We gave up some shots in the second,” May said. “It could’ve been tied at half.”
Libby capitalized on the Bulldogs struggle to score, closing the half on a 8-2 run to lead 19-7.
The Loggers kept the pressure on in the third, again holding Whitefish without a field goal in the quarter, while hitting their shots down low to increase their lead. England closed the quarter with a bang for the Loggers, putting back a missed shot as the buzzer rang out to give Libby a 29-10 lead entering the fourth.
Whitefish cut into the lead at the beginning of the fourth, hitting a layup off an inbounds pass under the basket, while Libby went 1 of 5 from the free-throw line. There just wasn’t enough offense for the Bulldogs. They hit just two more free throws as the Loggers ran away with the win.
“We’re not a team that’s going to go out there and score 60 a night,” Duff said. “We’ve got to make our chances when we get them.”
The Loggers move on to face No. 2 Frenchtown at 2 p.m. today. The Broncs (16-2) swept the regular season series this season and finished undefeated in the league. Their only losses have come to No. 3 Stevensville.
“They’re well coached, tall, athletic and very disciplined,” May said. “We have to play our best game.”
Whitefish will play against the loser of the Columbia Falls/Polson game at 9 a.m. on Saturday for a chance to keep its season alive.
Whitefish 2 5 3 4 — 14
Libby 8 11 10 8 — 37
WHITEFISH — Taylor Havens 3, Ashley Millard 3, Ashlee Brewer 3, Simone Craft 3, Ashley O’Dell 2.
LIBBY — Kim Tangen 10, Hannah England 8, Taylor Quinn 6, Hailey Craig 4, Shyla Stevenson 3, Jenny Johnson 2, Becca Kyriss 2, Devon Gallagher 2.