Wildkats NW A champs

The Columbia Falls girls pulled away from Frenchtown with a strong fourth quarter, winning 53-47 Sunday night at Glacier High School to clinch the Northwestern A divisional basketball championship for the first time since 2011.

Tied at 35-35 after the third quarter, the Wildkats scored the first six points of the fourth to build an advantage that helped the young squad hold off a hard charge from the Broncs down the stretch.

With three minutes to play and Columbia Falls leading 47-41, Frenchtown senior Vanessa Stavish, the second-leading scorer in the state, scored six straight points to cut the Wildkats’ lead to one point with 2:08 left.

Columbia Falls’ young stars took over late with sophomore Ellie Johnson driving for a score on the next possession and junior Winter Kemppainen nearly getting a steal before forcing a travel the next time the Broncs touched the ball. Freshman guard Cydney Finberg hit a pair of free throws with 31 seconds remaining to give the Wildkats a 51-46 lead and seal the victory.

Senior post Haley Belgarde, who scored a game-high 21 points, hit the final two free throws with 0.6 seconds left to send the Wildkats to Great Falls.

“We know our schedule down the stretch wasn’t the toughest,” Columbia Falls coach Cary Finberg said. “When you’re winning by 30 or 40 points, you don’t see (defense like) that.

“They were stumbling a bit but they righted the ship. We’re inexperienced with the girls. We’re young. They’ve never been in this situation before. It’s a learning experience.

“This game will make us better. It’s not going to be easy but we find a way to win. It’s good preparation for the state tournament.”

Kemppainen and Cydney Finberg had 11 points each for Columbia Falls.

Stavish had 19 for Frenchtown, which will play Polson at 6 p.m. tonight at Glacier for the second seed to the state tournament. The Broncs easily handled the Pirates each time this season, winning 61-16 in Frenchtown on Jan. 31 and 56-22 in Polson on Feb. 20.

Columbia Falls 9 16 9 19 — 53

Frenchtown 14 6 14 13 — 47

COLUMBIA FALLS - Ciera Finberg 3 0-0 8, Cydney Finberg 4 2-3 11, Ellie Johnson 1 0-0 2, Winter Kemppainen 5 0-2 11, Haley Belgarde 7 7-10 21. Totals 20 9-15 53.

FRENCHTOWN - Haley Cyr 4 1-2 10, Vanessa Stavish 6 6-10 19, Kayla Blood 2 3-3 7, Lacey Hochhalter 2 0-0 4, Alli Moe 2 1-1 5, Brooke Yarnell 0 1-2 1, Laci Willett 0 1-4 1. Totals 16 13-22 47.

3-pointers - Columbia Falls 4 (Ci.Finberg 2, Cyd. Finberg, Johnson), Frenchtown 2 (Cyr, Stavish). Team fouls - Columbia Falls 16, Frenchtown 17. Fouled out - None.

Consolation Final

Polson 35, Libby 32

Polson recovered from a slow start to drop Libby and claim third place.

Libby led 19-12 at the half, but Polson outscored the Loggers 23-13 in the second half.

Nichole Lake tallied 10 point for Polson. Skyla Krantz and Jessica Bagnell added eight each.

Taylor Quinn led Libby, and all scorers, with 14 points.

Libby enjoyed a big edge at the free throw line, going 13 for 27. Polson was just 4 of 7.

Libby advanced to the consolation final by defeating Whitefish 43-22 earlier in the day in an elimination contest.

Hailey Moe was the offensive start for Libby in that outing with 12 points. Quinn added 11.

Simone Craft led Whitefish with seven points.

Polson 4 8 11 12 — 35

Libby 9 10 5 8 — 32

POLSON — Skyla Krantz 3 1-2 8, Jessica Bagnell 3 2-2 8, Nichole Lake 5 0-0 10, Dylan Quinn 2 0-0 4, Kaelen Wall 0 1-2 1, Monica Frame 1 0-0 2, Lauren Lefthand 1 0-0 2. Totals 15 4-7 35.

LIBBY — Shyla Stevenson 3 0-1 6, Hailey Moe 1 1-4 3, Taylor Quinn 4 6-8 14, Dayln Germany 0 4-7 4, Devon Gallagher 1 3-4 5. Totals 12 13-27 32.

3-point goals - Polson 1 (Krantz), Libby 0. Team fouls - Polson 20, Libby 14. Fouled out - Moe.

Elimination Game

Libby 9 11 10 13 — 43

Whitefish 2 4 5 11 — 22

LIBBY — Ashley Walker 2 1-2 5, Gery Oliver 0 1-2 1, Dani Hawthorne 0 0-2 0, Shyla Stevenson 3 2-3 8, Hailey Moe 3 6-9 12, Taylor Quinn 4 3-4 11, Dayln Germany 0 1-2 1, Devon Gallagher 2 0-0 5. Totals 14 14-24 43.

WHITEFISH — Katie Fyall 1 2-2 4, Haley Nicholson 1 1-4 3, Simone Craft 2 3-4 7, Cevana Lawshe 0 0-1 0, Anna Peterson 0 4-4 4, Makenna Benbrook 0 0-1 0, Victoria Buls 2 0-0 4. Totals 6 10-15 22.

3-pointers — Libby 1 (Gallagher), Whitefish 0; Team fouls - Libby 17, Whitefish 20. Fouled out - None.