Basketball: 'Pack plunders Pirates
<p>Glacier senior Cassi Hashley (21) goes for a loose ball Tuesday night during Glacier's home victory over Polson. Jan. 7, 2014 in Kalispell, Montana. (Patrick Cote/Daily Inter Lake)</p>
<p>Glacier junior Brielle Bumgarner (31) celebrates after taking a charge Tuesday night during Glacier's home victory over Polson. Jan. 7, 2014 in Kalispell, Montana. (Patrick Cote/Daily Inter Lake)</p>
The Glacier girls (3-2) turned their 28-point halftime lead into a 44-point victory Tuesday night, as the Wolfpack swarmed the Polson Lady Pirates (0-6) for a 64-20 nonconference basketball victory.
The Wolfpack caused 38 turnovers, including a game-high seven steals by sophomore Hailee Bennett, and their fast break attack pushed the ball behind the Lady Pirates defense early and often, as they controlled the game from the opening tip.
Bennett, who led Glacier in scoring with a 14-point effort, tallied five assists and commanded the Wolfpack offense to a non-conference victory — often feeding the ball to senior Cassi Hashley.
Hashley dominated the paint throughout the night and finished with 12 points and five rebounds.
Glacier head coach Kris Salonen was pleased with her team’s effort while keeping her focus on improving the offense.
“We needed this game to work on executing our offense,” Salonen said.
“Last week against Sentinel we struggled a bit so that was our goal tonight and will be this week in practice.”
The Lady Pirates, led by sophomore Nicole Lake’s seven points and team-high three rebounds, struggled to possess throughout the game and fell behind early.
Senior Monica Frame added six points to the Lady Pirates attack; but, unable to overcome early turnovers, Polson was outmatched and never gained a lead in the contest.
Although the loss seemed devistating on the scoreboard, Polson head coach Jay Krantz was optimistic about the rest of the team’s season.
“We’re a really young team and the more experiences we have, and as long as we keep a positive attitude with what we are doing, we’ll be okay,” Krantz said.
Polson will travel to Columbia Falls (5-0) on Friday with tip-off scheduled for 7:30 p.m. The Wildkats are likely to be a top-ranked team when polls come out tomorrow.
Glacier will be on the road as well, traveling to Missoula Big Sky this Saturday at 4 p.m.
Polson5 6 5 4—20
Glacier21181015—64
POLSON — Nicole Lake 2-5 3-4 7, Monika Frame 2-2 2-2 6, Skyla Krantz 1-3 0-0 3, Peyton Anderson 1-3 0-0 2, Kaelan Wall 0-0 1-2 1, Lydia Dupius 0-0 1-2 1. Totals: 6-17 7-11 20.
GLACIER — Hailee Bennett 6-10 2-2 14, Cassi Hashley 5-7 2-3 12, Katie Thomas 3-5 0-0 8, Katie Wiley 2-8 2-2 6, Taylor Loomis 3-6 0-0 6, Taylor Salonen 2-4 2-4 6, Ali Williams 2-3 1-1 5, Hannah Atlee 1-3 1-1 3, Brielle Bumgarner 0-0 2-2 2, Tessa Krueger 1-2 0-0 2 . Totals: 25-48 12-15 64.
3-Pointers — Polson 1-1 (Krantz), Glacier 2-6 (Thomas 2). Rebounds — Polson 10 (Lake 3), Glacier 23 (Hashley 5). Assists — Polson 4 (Quinn 2), Glacier 12 (Bennett 5). Blocks — Polson 1 (Frame), Glacier 4 (Hashley 3). Steals — Polson 7 (Bagnell 3), Glacier 26 (Bennett 7). Fouls — Polson 14, Glacier 16. Technical Foul — none. Fouled out — none.