Basketball: Bigfork prepares for 7B tournament
Both Bigfork basketball programs are playing host to the District 7B semifinals tonight as the Vikings (18-0 overall, 8-0 conference) and the Valkryies (14-4, 6-2) look to improve their seed and endure a long run into the state tournament.
The first game of the night, a 5 p.m. tip-off, will feature the Bigfork girls and the Thompson Falls Blue Hawks (10-7, 4-4).
“We’re going to see a lot of man defense,” Valkyrie coach Mark Hansen said. “We’ve been working on taking care of the ball and running our offensive sets and defensive sets. We’re fine tuning things.”
The Valkryies, ranked eighth in the latest Class B rankings, swept the season series against the Blue Hawks, most recently winning 62-14 last Friday on the road. Although the blowout victory may prove to be an indication of tonight’s outcome to some, the 47-38 victory in January has Coach Hansen focusing his girls.
“We want them to be confident but not over confident,” Hansen said. “We’ve told them the season is starting over and we’re going to breakdown the game into four minute segments. We want to win each segment.”
The Valkryies will have to contain Bluehawk standout Logan Beckman. Bigfork’s nine-point victory saw Beckman score a game-high 23 points. In Friday’s win over Thompson Falls, she scored just two.
“We’ve got to keep track of Beckman,” Hansen said.” We’ve got to know where she is and transition on defense. They’re a good rebounding team so our focus will also be on the glass.”
If the Valkryies win tonight, they’ll play for the first seed in the district and take on the winner of the other semifinal, where sixth-ranked Plains (14-4, 8-0) hosts Eureka (5-14, 2-6).
The Bigfork boys will also play for the district’s first seed if they can defeat the Plains Horsemen (4-15, 2-6). Tip-off is at 7 p.m.
The unbeaten Vikings handled the Horsemen in both match-ups during the regular season. The first meeting back in December saw the Vikings win 67-37 on their homecourt while senior Christian Evans dropped 17 points on Plains. Nearly a month later the Vikings won in Plains, 69-41.
The Horsemen and Aaron Baker, who’s scored in double figures during both contests with Bigfork, have yet to test the Vikings, but Bigfork’s perfect record won’t have them looking past Plains.
“It’s human nature to become complacent,” Vikings coach Josh Downey said. “I tell them, ‘You’re only as good as your next game,’ so they aren’t dwelling on the past.”
They’re not looking to the future either. With a perfect record and the top spot in Class B, Downey stated his team knows the have yet to play a complete game.
“Our first halves have been close this year because everyone wants to beat us and everyone wants to play their best game against us,” Vikings head coach Josh Downey said. “Right now, we’re focusing on us. We haven’t talked about other teams. We’re still working on us.”
The team that wakes the sleeping beast that is the Bigfork Vikings will be in for a long night, and with the state tournament around the corner, the Vikings are hitting their stride just in time for a long post-season run.
“Anything thrown at us we’ll be 100 percent prepared for,” Downey said. “They’ve yet to play to their full potential and they know that, they’re hungry.”
A win tonight would pit Bigfork against the winner of Eureka (9-9, 5-3) and Troy (11-7, 4-4) in the finals.