Great Falls stumps Wolfpack

Great Falls’ aggressive, trapping defense flustered Glacier down the stretch and the Lady Bison knocked off the Wolfpack 53-45 in a Class AA nonconference girls basketball game Saturday at Glacier High School.

Glacier (2-1) led Great Falls (3-1) 42-39 in the third quarter when the Bison wrested control with a 12-0 run that spanned seven minutes of game time. The Bison took a 44-42 lead when Lizzy Klinker stole an inbound pass and went end-to-end for a layup and Glacier had seven consecutive empty possessions as Great Falls extended its lead to 51-42.

“I think we weren’t as focused as we were in the first half,” said Glacier point guard Hailee Bennett, who scored a game-high 17 points. “I think we just got in a funk. They were up in our faces more in the fourth quarter and we haven’t handled that very well in the past, so it was kind of hard in the fourth quarter, and we just kind of didn’t have enough energy. It was just a tough fourth quarter for us.”

Great Falls began stalling when leading by seven with five and a half minutes left. The Bison wasted two and a half minutes passing the ball around the perimeter before turning it over with a traveling violation. Cassi Hashley ended the Great Falls run with a scoop layup, but Glacier was forced to foul and Taylor Krumm salted the game with a pair of free throws.

Glacier coach Kris Salonen said her team should have been aggressive when Great Falls began stalling.

“If you have to foul a little bit, you have to foul to go get that ball,” she said. “And I needed to do a better job teaching them that when a team is stalling and delaying, we’ve got to be tenacious and get up and play some defense. I think it was more my fault than anything. You’re trying to get as much stuff in at the start of the season, but now we know if we ever face it again. I don’t think I’ve ever had a team pull out with five minutes left when they’re up seven. That was pretty gutsy, but they did a good job running it.”

Salonen considers Great Falls one of the favorites to win the Eastern AA conference and Glacier had plenty of bright spots despite coming up short.

Bennett put on a shooting clinic in the second quarter, draining 3-pointers on three consecutive possessions to pull the Wolfpack out of an offensive funk and turn a 15-10 deficit into a 19-17 lead.

Ali Williams completed a three-point play with a nifty turnaround post move late in the second quarter, and the Wolfpack led 30-28 at halftime after a quixotic 3-point attempt by Krumm missed at the buzzer.

“There’s so many good things to come out of this game and I don’t want the girls to get down on themselves,” Salonen said.

“It was a hard-fought game and we just didn’t come out winning.”

The third quarter seesawed back-and-forth with five ties and three lead changes until Great Falls took the lead for good on Klinker’s layup with six seconds remaining in the frame.

“I thought we played a great first half and we came out in the second half and we just had a bad feeling,” Salonen said. “We just were flat, we turned the ball over and when we turned the ball over we didn’t get back on defense and we gave up a couple easy layups. In games like that, that’s what’s going to happen.

“We just fell to their pressure,” she added. “Their 1-2-2 half court is a great defense for them.”

Bourgeau led Great Falls with 12 points. Klinker scored 11 and Nora Klick, Mikaela Kynett and Krumm each scored eight. The Lady Bison made 7 of 18 3-point attempts and 12 of 18 foul shots.

Hashley was Glacier’s second-leading scorer with 12 points, Katie Wiley scored nine and Williams scored five. Bennett shot 3 of 7 from behind the 3-point arc and 4 of 4 at the free throw line.

“This game will definitely help us,” Bennett said.

“It’s always better to play tough competition than teams that aren’t as good. There’s so many things that we have to work on, and that’s what one of these kind of games helps us learn. Over Christmas break we’ll be able to take the things that we need to work on, work on them and get better.”

With Christmas around the corner, Glacier won’t return to the court until Jan. 3 when it hosts defending state champion Missoula Sentinel.

Great Falls 15 13 16 9 — 53

Glacier 10 20 12 3 — 45

GREAT FALLS (3-1) — Mercedes Bourgeau 4 1-2 12, Lizzy Klinker 4 3-4 11, Nora Klick 2 3-3 8, Mikaela Kynett 2 3-4 8, Taylor Krumm 2 2-3 8, Markaela Francis 2 0-0 4, Brooke Dart 0 1-2 1, Gabby Fought 0 1-2 1. Totals: 16 14-20 53.

GLACIER (2-1) — Hailee Bennett 5 4-4 17, Cassi Hashley 4 4-6 12, Katie Wiley 3 3-5 9, Ali Williams 2 1-1 5, Taylor Loomis 1 0-0 2 Hannah Atlee 0 0-2 0. Totals: 15 12-18 45.

3-point goals — Great Falls 7-18 (Bourgeau 3-5, Krumm 2-6, Kynett 1-2, Klick 1-3, Klinker 0-2), Glacier 3-11 (Bennett 3-7, Wiley 0-2, Katie Thomas 0-2).