Rustlers ambush Bravettes

C.M. Russell outscored Flathead 15-9 in the fourth quarter to pull away for a 52-40 Class AA nonconference girls basketball victory Saturday afternoon at Flathead High School.

CMR, ranked No. 3 in the first poll of the season, led 23-18 at the half and 37-31 heading into the final eight minutes of play.

"Give CMR credit as they made shots when they needed to," Flathead coach Karly Tait said.

"Emma Andrews hit some tough shots down the stretch to keep us in the game."

Andrews finished with a game-high 18 points.

"I was really proud of our efforts," Tait said.

"We played hard the whole game, just fell short at the end.

"Our defensive intensity was better (today) than the last few games and we forced CMR to turn it over quite a few times," Tait added.

"We just have to keep continuing to improve each game."

CMR (8-1) was led by Lexi Pyette's 15 points. Sara Wier and Diondra Denton were next with 10 each.

CMR outrebounded Flathead (3-5) 41-32.

C.M. Russell 9 14 14 15 - 52

Flathead 6 12 13 9 - 40

CM RUSSELL - Hannah Vining 1-1 0-0 2, Lexi Pyette 4-10 6-8 15, Katelyn Robbins 2-3 2-2 6, Sara Wier 5-9 0-1 10, Kydee Parsons 0-4 1-2 1, Ashlee Archison 0-2 0-0 0, Brandy Kumm 3-6 1-4 8, Diondra Denton 4-8 1-2 10. Totals: 19-43 11-18 52.

FLATHEAD - Emma Andrews 5-14 6-6 18, Tess Brenneman 4-9 0-0 8, Brittany Earnest 2-9 1-2 5, Cassie Krueger 0-4 1-2 1, Megan Jones 0-1 0-0 0, Ashlee O'Dell 0-5 2-2 2, Malia Ozegovich 0-3 0-0 0, Jenessa Heine 2-7 2-5 6. Totals: 13-52 12-17 40.

3-point goals: Pyette, Kumm, Denton; Andrews; Team fouls: C.M. Russell 19, Flathead 19; Fouled out: Brenneman; Rebounding: CMR 41 (Robbins 8), Flathead 32 (Heine 6); Turnovers: CMR 19, Flathead 14.

Bigfork 58, Florence 45

BIGFORK - Bigfork survived a hot-shooting Florence team in the early going to emerge with a nonconference victory over the Falcons.

Florence jumped out to a 19-4 lead eight minutes into play before Bigfork roared back to take a 27-24 lead at the half.

"I'm proud of the girls," Bigfork coach Mark Hansen said.

"They bounced back after a tough loss last night, showed a lot of heart."

Fifth-ranked Bigfork (8-2) lost to Thompson Falls on Friday, 42-20.

Melissa VanDerveer and Tessa Robertson paced Bigfork offensively with 16 and 15 points, respectively.

Robertson led in rebounding with 14 and also had six blocks.

VanDerveer had 12 rebounds along with Taylor Peck.

"She did an amazing job taking care of the ball tonight," Hansen said of Peck.

Peck also had eight assists.

Florence 19 5 13 8 - 45

Bigfork 4 23 18 13 - 58

FLORENCE - Megan Burne 3, Cass Skeers 2, Paige Bodner 6, Ava Kollman 11, Carly O'Brien 6, Kyndall Hoff 7, Rosie O'Brien 8, Margaret Finley 2.

BIGFORK - Mckinze Shults 5, Shelby Scoggins 8, Taylor Peck 7, Melissa VanDerveer 16, Tessa Robertson 15, Riley Coleman 7.

Polson 71, Libby 33

POLSON - Polson rolled up 26 points in the opening quarter and led 42-19 at the half in posting an easy Northwestern A victory over Libby.

"We jumped on them early, kind of went from there," Polson coach Randy Kelley said.

Riley Kenney scored 18 points and netted 11 rebounds for No. 5 Polson (7-1, 2-1). Mariah Hamel added 10 points.

Libby (1-8, 0-3) was led by Kim Tangen, who scored 10.

Libby 4 15 6 8 - 33

Polson 26 16 12 17 - 71

LIBBY - Alyssa Walker 1, Hannah England 2, Kelsey Klin 2, Hailey Craig 5, Shyla Stevenson 4, Taylor Quinn 9, Kim Tangen 10.

POLSON - Mackenzie Banner 6, Macall Banner 9, Mariah Hamel 10, Anna DiGiallonardo 11, Riley Kenney 18, Jordan Quinn 4, Hallie Hovenkotter 4, Heidi Rausch 9.

Eureka 52,

Noxon 45, OT

NOXON - Alyssa White opened overtime with a trey and Eureka outscored Noxon 7-0 in the extra session to claim the nonconference victory.

White, who was 5-of-9 from 3-point range in the contest, wound up with 21 points. She scored five points in overtime, while Makayla Grove accounted for the other two.

Eureka (5-5) trailed 37-34 heading into the fourth quarter.

Noxon was led by Tara Stettler's 15 points.

Eureka 12 10 12 11 7 - 52

Noxon 9 10 18 8 0 - 45

EUREKA - Alex Holland 3, Makayla Grove 4, Alyssa White 21, Alex Pecora 1, Ca

Caitlin Larson 5, Cassidy Morgan 9, Carli Allen 7.

NOXON - Kendall Aitken 2, Kimmy Marich 10, Alana Dettwiler 3, Brooke Smithborne 2, Shay Lloyd 1, Tara Stettler 15, Jordan Wilkinson 10.

Columbia Falls 66, Whitefish 28

COLUMBIA FALLS - Season high scoring efforts by Hope Burlage, 22 points, and Winter Kemppainen, 10 points, carried Columbia Falls to an easy victory over Whitefish in Northwestern A play.

The 66 points for the Wildkats (2-7, 1-2) was also a season best.

"It was a nice bounce-back game from last night (49-22 loss at Glacier)," Columbia Falls coach Cary Finberg said.

"It's a win ... at this point, we'll take that. Hopefully it's something to build on."

Whitefish (1-1, 1-8) was led by Ashlee Brewer's six points.

Whitefish 9 7 8 4 - 28

Columbia Falls 14 21 20 11 - 66

WHITEFISH - Taylor Havens 4, Ashley Millard 3, Amanda Foley 4, Ashlee Brewer 6, Ashley O'Dell 2, Simone Craft 2, Melissa Poe 5, Shannon Craft 2.

COLUMBIA FALLS - Kaity Presnell 2, Ciera Finberg 2, Tori Price 2, Alli Dierenfield 1, Kathryn Jetty 2, Hope Burlage 22, Madison Sandefer 6, Cortney White 5, Andrea Getts 6, Winter Kemppainen 10, Haley Belgarde 8.

Boys

C.M. Russell 60,

Flathead 52

GREAT FALLS - Flathead couldn't overcome scoring doldrums in the middle quarters, dropping a Class AA nonconference contest with C.M. Russell.

Fourth-ranked Flathead (5-3) was held to two points in the second period and seven in the third.

The Braves did finish with a flurry, scoring 28 in the final quarter.

CMR led 29-17 at the half and 42-24 heading into the fourth quarter.

George Sherwood and Drew Crosby paced Flathead's offense with 16 and 10 points, respectively.

Russ Morin had 16 for CMR (4-6) and Joey Marzion 14.

Flathead had 20 turnovers, twice as many as CMR, but outrebounded the Rustlers 36-29.

Flathead 15 2 7 28 - 52

CMR 14 15 13 18 - 60

Flathead - Drew Crosby 3-6 3-3 10, Matt McLean 2-6 4-7 9, George Sherwood 5-13 6-6 16, Austin Jones 0-0 0-0 0, Shea Schroeder 3-5 0-1 6, Chris Cronk 0-0 2-2 2, Matt Tokarz 0-2 0-0 0, Al Michael Olszewski 0-2 0-0 0, Nick James 1-2 0-0 2, Garth West 2-6 0-1 4, Chandler Escalante 1-2 0-0 3. Totals: 17-44 15-20 52.

CMR - Cam Oswood 0-1 0-0 0, Joey Marzion 4-10 5-8 14, Colton Carter 4-7 1-6 10, Russ Morin 5-9 6-9 16, Josh Horner 4-4 3-8 11, Jayse McLean 1-3 4-6 6, Luke Stenzel 0-1 1-5 5, Anthony Bonilla 0-1 0-0 0, Tanner Olsen 1-3 0-0 2, Mason Storm 0-0 0-0, Tyler Pfennigs 0-0 0-0 0, Justin Pfennigs 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 19-40 20-42 60.

Total fouls: Flathead 32, CMR 21. Fouled out: M. McLean, Jones. 3-pointers: Flathead 3-13 (Crosby, Mclean, Escalante), CMR 2-6 (Carter, Marzion). Rebounds: Flathead 36 (Schroeder 9), CMR 29 (Morin 10). Turnovers: Flathead 20, CMR 10.

Polson 69, Libby 46

POLSON - Polson relied on balanced scoring to drop Libby (1-7, 0-3) for a Northwestern A victory.

Tyler Krell led the way with 13 points, Ian Laimbeer and Zack Camel both tallied 12 and Vince DiGiallonardo wound up with 10.

Laimbeer was the Pirate rebounding leader with nine, while Camel had a team-best six steals and Will Davey a team-high five assists.

Polson (5-3, 2-1) led by 13 points after eight minutes of action and took a 33-19 advantage into the locker room at the half.

Libby's Jared Winslow led all scorers with 18 points. Kraig Nelson followed with 14.

Libby 6 13 18 9 - 46

Polson 19 14 19 17 - 69

LIBBY - Christian Hubbard 3, Elias Lapka 2, Jared Winslow 18, Nolan Broden 4, Josh Foote 1, Louis Cielak 2, Kraig Nelson 14, Barak Lapka 2.

POLSON - Tyler Krell 13, Vince DiGiallonardo 10, Will Davey 5, Ian Laimbeer 12, Zack Camel 12, Cody Fischer 8, Brady Hislop 3, Riley Sampson 6.

Columbia Falls 73, Whitefish 49

COLUMBIA FALLS - Austin Barth, 12 rebounds and 11 points, recorded his fifth double-double of the year, helping No. 4-ranked Columbia Falls blow past Whitefish in Northwestern A action.

Columbia Falls (6-3, 3-0) outscored Whitefish 41-24 in the final half.

"Again, after last night's tough loss (60-46 at Glacier), for them to come back and show the energy they did and being shorthanded tonight, I was happy with that," Columbia Falls coach Cary Finberg said.

"There were a lot of contributions from a lot of different people. It was a big conference win for us."

Anthony Correa led Columbia Falls, and all scorers, with 21 points. Brian Marcille dropped in 10.

Gage Vasquez and Jake Slaybaugh shared scoring honors for Whitefish (5-4, 1-1) with 13 each.

Whitefish 12 13 13 11 - 49

Columbia Falls 16 16 21 20 - 73

WHITEFISH - Christopher Forrest 7, Jake Slaybaugh 13, Logan Harwood 7, Gage Vasquez 13, Cooper Olson 6, Jace Kalbfleisch 3.

COLUMBIA FALLS - Alex Presnell 9, Ronny Gallegos 5, Austin Martin 2, Luke Kazlauskas 9, Anthony Correa 21, Brian Marcille 10, Austin Barth 11, Jared Trinastich 4, Austin Kimmett 2.

Bigfork 44,

Florence 41

FLORENCE - Chris Landon scored 15 points, Cody Dopps totaled 10 and Ian Lorang scored all of his five points in the fourth quarter as seventh-ranked Bigfork clipped No. 5 Florence in a nonconference contest.

Bigfork (8-2) led the back-and-forth affair 25-22 at the half.

Aaron Ward's 10 points topped the Falcons (7-2).

Bigfork 15 10 8 11 - 44

Florence 9 13 9 10 - 41

FLORENCE - Ryne Baerlocher 7, Chantz Hotsinpiller 5, RMike Finlay 6, Aaron Ward 10, Sage Hansen 8, Bradley Schaff 3, Rhett Baerlocher 2.

BIGFORK - Austin Jordt 6, Ian Lorang 5, Chris Landon 15, Cody Dopps 10, Conner Coleman 6, Ryan Hayes 2.

Noxon 60, Eureka 48

NOXON - Noxon used a 16-point third period to gain some breathing room en route to a 12-point nonconference win over Eureka.

Eureka (3-7) was led by Tanner Peterson and Ryan Holder, 19 points each.

Neal Jopling, Brandon Piazzola and Travis Tammaro all had 12 each for Noxon.

Noxon led 26-22 at the half.

Eureka 11 11 9 17 - 48

Noxon 14 12 16 18 - 60

EUREKA - Tanner Peterson 19, Ryan Holder 19, Tanner Blankers 3, Bryton Guckenberg 5, Mark Good 2.

NOXON - Banks Stocking 9, Neal Jopling 12, Brandon Piazzola 12, Jordan Eichert 11, Travis Tammaro 12, Oliver Grupenhoff 2, Johnie Carter 2.