Girls basketball: Glacier clips Columbia Falls

COLUMBIA FALLS — The Glacier girls were in control throughout much of Thursday’s nonconference basketball game against Columbia Falls, but needed a big fourth quarter to overcome a lethargic third and seal a 57-35 victory.

After leading 28-16 at halftime, Glacier’s offense sputtered in the third quarter and Columbia Falls (6-2 overall, 2-0 Northwest A) cut its deficit to seven before freshman point guard Hailee Bennett helped spark an 18-3 run that put the game out of reach.

Bennett scored seven of her game-high 13 points during that run and assisted field goals by Rachel Chery and Cassi Hashley.

“She was definitely on fire,” Hashley said of Bennett. “It seemed like every shot she took went in.”

After scoring five points the entire third quarter, Glacier (4-2, 1-1 Western AA) scored on its first five possessions of the fourth. Bennett found Chery cutting along the baseline for a layup on Glacier’s first possession, then Hashley converted a hook shot from the low post to extend the Wolfpack’s lead to 11. Glacier guard Kirstyn Haugenoe followed with a transition layup before Columbia Falls’ Winter Kemppainen drilled a three-pointer.

Kemppainen’s three did little to halt Glacier’s momentum as the Wolfpack scored the next 12 points to open up a 22-point lead with 2 minutes and 45 seconds remaining.

“After the third quarter, we needed to put it behind us, focus on the fourth and finish the game,” Bennett said. “I thought we ran our offense really well. We executed and were more patient.”

The Wolfpack received a balanced effort offensively as Chery finished with 11 points, Hashley scored 10 and Kailea Vaudt had eight.

“I thought we played really well as a team,” Hashley said. “It was a great team effort.”

Kemppainen scored nine points to lead Columbia Falls. Hope Burlage scored eight and Haley Belgarde, who entered the game averaging 15 points, was held to six.

Glacier coach Kris Salonen said her team slowed down in the third quarter because it didn’t do a good job boxing out and fouled Columbia Falls’ offensive rebounders.

“We tried to put a little press on, and they turned the ball over when we did, but we couldn’t press because we got in foul trouble,” Salonen said. “So that hurt us a little bit because that gets our momentum going sometimes.”

Salonen said her team’s offensive woes in the third quarter resulted from a lack of patience in its half court offense, something the Wolfpack rectified in an explosive fourth quarter.

“We executed so well in the first half, so we had to bring them together and get them to execute in our half court offense,” she said. “It was us coming together as a team and saying, most importantly, that we have to execute offensively, but we’ve also got to quit fouling, we’ve got to box out and we’ve got to get some defensive stops.”

Columbia Falls played much of the game in a 1-3-1 zone defense, something Glacier hadn’t seen this season.

“We knew we’d see it tonight, so we put a new offense in this last week,” Salonen said. “We had another offense that we use against a 1-2-2, but it’s not really a two-guard set. We really needed to have something with a two-guard set, so it was very nice that we were able to play it against Columbia Falls.”

Glacier’s 57 points were just four shy of its season-high, which could bode well for the Wolfpack when it travels to Helena later this season.

“There’s a good chance when we go to Helena that we’re going to see 1-3-1,” Salonen said.

Both of Columbia Falls’ losses this season have come against Class AA opponents. The Wildkats are currently the No. 1-ranked team in Class A.

Glacier hosts a nonconference game against Lake City (Coeur d’Alene, Idaho) on Saturday. Columbia Falls travels to Whitefish on Saturday for its third Northwest A conference game.

Glacier 14 14 5 24 — 57

Columbia Falls 7 9 10 9 — 35

GLACIER — Hailee Bennett 6 1-1 13, Rachel Chery 5 1-2 11, Cassi Hashley 4 2-2 10, Kailea Vaudt 4 0-0 8, Kirstyn Haugenoe 3 0-1 6, Taylor Loomis 2 1-2 5, Hannah Atlee 0 2-2 2, Kylie Peck 1 0-0 2.

COLUMBIA FALLS — Winter Kemppainen 3 2-2 9, Hope Burlage 2 4-4 8, Haley Belgarde 2 2-2 6, Andrea Getts 2 1-5 5, Ally Gimbel 1 1-2 3, Tori Price 1 0-0 2, Ciera Finberg 1 0-0 2.