Glacier boys, girls stop Dogs
<p>Glacier’s Dylan Ruggles (21) and Whitefish’s Cody Olson dive for a loose ball during the final minutes of a December 20, 2014 basketball game at Glacier High School. (Aaric Bryan/Daily Inter Lake)</p>
<p>Glacier Wolfpack guard Hailee Bennett drives past Whitefish defender Dani Douglas during the second quarter of Saturday’s nonconference basketball game at Glacier High School. (Aaric Bryan/Daily Inter Lake)</p>
Glacier learned quickly from its tough loss on Friday night, holding tight to its big lead this time down the stretch for a 65-51 victory over Whitefish in a nonconference boys basketball game on Saturday at Glacier.
Leading 29-24 early in the third quarter, Glacier went on a 10-3 run to build its biggest lead of the game midway through the period, a lead it maintained with a 3-pointer at the buzzer to enter the fourth up 49-34.
Whitefish mounted a comeback in the final quarter, Chaffin Ross leading the charge to cut the Glacier advantage to 51-43 with 5:27 to play.
However, a 3-pointer from Sam McCamley followed by a transition layup from Taden Gilman stretched the Wolfpack’s lead back to 13. Glacier salted the game away at the free-throw line, hitting 7 of 10 shots from the stripe in the final two minutes.
“One of the things I thought we did better was managing the clock towards the end of the game with the lead,” Glacier coach Mark Harkins said.
“We came down, forced one or two shots, but last night we turned it over. We’re getting better and we’re learning.”
Jaxen Hashley had a game-high 19 points and 13 rebounds to lead Glacier, posting his second double-double in as many games. McCamley had 12 points.
AJ Wetsch led Whitefish with 12 points and Cody Olson had 11.
“We couldn’t buy a basket,” Whitefish coach Curtis Green said. “We got all the shots and looks that we wanted to get and we executed. We just couldn’t get it to fall tonight.”
Glacier plays Butte on Tuesday in its final game before the Christmas break. Whitefish is done until January.
“Every day we seem to improve, every game we seem to improve,” Green said.
“We’ve got a two week break to continue to get better. I think coming into January and February we’re going to be a team to watch out for.”
Whitefish 10 11 13 17 — 51
Glacier 14 15 20 16 — 65
WHITEFISH — AJ Wetsch 4-15 2-2 12, Cody Olson 4-7 1-2 11, Chaffin Ross 4-8 1-1 9, Peter Mow 1-1 0-0 2, Derek Kastella 1-6 1-1 3, Brian FauntLeRoy 1-3 0-0 2, Luke May 3-8 0-0 7, Jack Streibich 1-6 1-1 3. Totals 19-54 6-7 49.
GLACIER — Sam McCamley 4-11 1-2 12, Jaxen Hashley 7-10 3-4 19, Cain Boschee 0-4 0-0 0, Dylan Ruggles 3-7 2-2 9, Truman Pisk 3-4 0-0 6, Tucker Rauthe 1-2 1-2 3, Noah Lindsay 2-5 1-2 5, Taden Gilman 2-5 2-4 6, Jake Norberg 1-1 0-0 3, Cody Norberg 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 23-51 10-16 63.
3-point goals—Whitefish 5-15 (Wetsch 2-8, Olson 2-3, May 1-4), Glacier 7-14 (McCamley 3-7, Hashley 2-2, Boschee 0-1, Ruggles 1-2, Lindsay 0-1, J. Norberg 1-1). Rebounds—Whitefish 25 (Ross 5), Glacier 40 (Hashley 13). Assists—Whitefish 5 (Olson 2), Glacier 12 (Boschee 3, Ruggles 3). Total fouls—Whitefish 14, Glacier 11. Fouled out—none. Technical fouls—none.
Girls
Glacier 60, Whitefish 24
The Glacier girls held Whitefish without a field goal for the game’s final 13 minutes, running away with a blowout nonconference win.
The Wolfpack, which was working on its half-court defense in the first half, switched to a press in the third quarter and shut down everything the Bulldogs tried to do. The height and length advantage of Glacier prevented Whitefish from getting shots off inside.
“They’re a big team,” Whitefish coach Clint Peters said. “Their starting five is probably all bigger than my tallest girl. They’re a talented team.”
The game was close in the first half, with Whitefish hanging step for step with the Wolfpack for the first five minutes, keeping the game within two scores for most of the first half.
Glacier senior Tessa Krueger closed the second quarter with five-straight points to stretch the Glacier lead to 29-18 at halftime.
After Whitefish scored a pair of buckets at the rim to start the second half, Glacier moved to the press, and immediately went on a 10-0 run to close the third quarter. The Wolfpack outscored Whitefish 18-2 in the final quarter, allowing only a pair of free throws.
“We really struggled defensively in our half-court D (against Great Falls on Friday),” Glacier coach Kris Salonen said. “We were really going to focus on our defense today, to make sure we communicate and do the little things that we know we’re good at.”
Hailee Bennett had a game-high 15 points for the Wolfpack with three 3-pointers in the contest.
Mariah Drown had 10 to lead Whitefish.
Whitefish 8 10 4 2 — 24
Glacier 17 12 13 18 — 60
WHITEFISH — Dani Douglas 2-5 0-0 6, Coral Schulz 0-3 0-0 0, Allie Schulz 0-1 0-0 0, Mariah Drown 5-8 0-1 10, Haley Nicholson 1-2 2-4 4, Cevana Lawshe 0-1 0-0 0, Makenna Benbrook 0-3 4-4 4. Totals 8-23 6-9 24.
GLACIER — Taylor Salonen 2-7 0-0 5, Hailee Bennett 6-14 0-0 15, Ahna Kreitinger 0-1 0-0 0, Zoee Boschee 2-4 0-0 4, Hailey Ruggles 0-2 0-0 0, Katie Wiley 5-7 1-3 11, Christine Connolly 2-2 0-0 4, Tessa Krueger 4-8 1-2 9, Nikki Krueger 4-6 0-0 8, Ali Williams 2-6 0-4 4. Totals 27-57 2-9 60.
3-point goals—Whitefish 2-6 (Douglas 2-4, C. Schulz 0-2), Glacier 4-10 (Salonen 1-4, Bennett 3-5, Kreitinger 0-1). Rebounds—Whitefish 17 (Drown 6), Glacier 24 (Wiley 7). Total fouls—Whitefish 11, Glacier 13. Fouled out—none. Technical fouls—none.