Wolfpack mounts huge comeback to beat Great Falls High

Things didn’t look good for the Glacier girls with four minutes to play in Saturday’s home game with Great Falls High.

The Wolfpack struggled to find a rhythm for the previous three and a half quarters, turning the ball over 15 times in the second and third quarters alone. That inconsistency led to a 13-point deficit and a bleak outlook for the start of what looked to be a promising season.

“We turned the ball over and forced things,” Glacier coach Kris Salonen said.

“We were playing good defense. We weren’t giving ourselves a chance to score the ball because we’d have turnovers or missed bunnies. I told the girls, we have to make a decision. Right now, they have to decide what kind of team they want to be this year. They told us what team they want to be.”

Shortly after, senior guard Hailee Bennett pushed the pace, getting to the free-throw line on three trips to the rim, scoring seven straight points to cut the Bison lead to 43-37.

With momentum starting to build, Glacier switched to a full-court pressure defense. Reserves Courtney Mitchell and Brynn McChesney combined for three steals in the next three possessions, as Mitchell got to the line for a pair off free throws and McChesney turned a theft under the basket into an easy bucket to cut the lead to 43-41.

That’s when Bennett stepped back up, nailing a step-back 3-pointer with 40 seconds to play to give Glacier the lead. After a Mitchell rebound she calmly took the ball upcourt, drawing a foul and making two more free throws. Mitchell secured another tough rebound off the final Bison miss and sealed the game with two final free throws.

Glacier closed the final 3:46 of play on an 18-0 run to earn a tough 48-43 victory in Class AA nonconference play.

“When you think about when you’re down like that, a lot of teams would give up,” Salonen said.

“We learned last year at the state tournament. We knew we were never going to give up. Because you never know.

“We had Hailee Bennett and Courtney Mitchell finish a phenomenal end of the game.”

Bennett finished with a game-high 20 points to lead the Wolfpack, as Glacier shot 13 of 14 from the free-throw line in the contest. Great Falls missed both of its free-throw chances in the final stretch and made just 2 of 6 in the final quarter.

Molly Schmitz led the Bison with 11 points and Nora Klick had 10 points.

Glacier started the game off with some spark from Bennett, the senior making two 3-pointers to keep the Wolfpack in a close contest.

Sophomore guard Anna Schrade hit a 3 to give Glacier a 12-11 lead with 2:36 to play in the quarter, Glacier’s last lead until Bennett’s 3 in the final minute.

Great Falls closed the first quarter with a pair of putback buckets to take a 15-12 lead into the second. Glacier opened the second quarter with five straight turnovers and fell behind 21-14 midway through the frame, falling behind 24-18 at half.

The Bison built their lead out to 12 points midway through the third quarter and led 36-26 entering the final eight minutes. Glacier scored just four points in more than four minutes of play in the fourth quarter before its final flourish.

“This is how we wanted to end our weekend,” Salonen said. “We wanted to prove this is the team we can be. Now moving forward it’s going to be a lot of fun.”

The Wolfpack plays at Butte on Tuesday before a break for the holidays.

Great Falls 15 9 12 7 — 43

Glacier 12 6 8 22 — 48

GREAT FALLS — Hannah Collins 2-10 0-0 6, Gabby Fought 1-5 0-0 2, Nora Klick 3-10 2-2 10, Molly Schmitz 3-5 4-5 11, Emma Madsen 2-4 1-2 5, Sarah Dutro 1-6 0-0 2, Marissa Meyer 1-1 0-2 2, Danielle Devlin 2-4 1-4 5. Totals: 15-46 8-15 43.

GLACIER — Taylor Salonen 2-4 1-2 6, Nikki Krueger 2-6 0-0 4, Hailee Bennett 5-14 7-7 20, Ahna Kreitinger 0-2 1-1 1, Brynn McChesney 2-2 0-0 4, Anna Schrade 3-7 0-0 7, Courtney Mitchell 1-6 4-4 6. Totals: 15-43 13-14 48.

3-point goals—GFH 5-16 (Collins 2, Klick 2), Glacier 5-13 (Bennett 3). Rebounds—GFH 18 (Meyer 5), Glacier 28 (Mitchell 7). Assists—GFH 2 (Klick, Meyer), Glacier 8 (Bennett 2, Kreitinger 2). Blocks—GFH 0, Glacier 4 (Salonen 2, Kreitinger 2). Steals—GFH 11 (Fought 4), Glacier 10, Hailey Ruggles 3). Personal fouls—GFH 19, Glacier 15. Fouled out—GFH, Madsen. Glacier, Krueger. Technical fouls—none.