BASKETBALL ROUNDUP: Glacier girls hammer Butte, boys stumble in Mining City

BUTTE — The Glacier girls kept their momentum rolling from the weekend, trouncing Butte 68-30 in a nonconference Class AA basketball game on Tuesday, the final game for each team before the holiday break.

Hailee Bennett was nealry perfect in the contest, shooting 9 of 10 from the field with 23 points to lead the Wolfpack, who opened the game up early with a six-point lead after the first quarter and a 31-15 lead at half.

Glacier cruised in the second half as well, outscoring the Bulldgos 37-15 in the final 16 minutes.

Nikki Krueger had 13 points and five rebounds for Glacier.

Abby Dodge led Butte with 16 points and 10 rebounds.

Glacier 15 16 21 16 — 68

Butte 9 6 7 8 — 30

GLACIER — Taylor Salonen 2-5 1-2 5, Hailee Bennett 9-10 3-5 23, Ahna Kreitinger 0-1 1-2 1, Nikki Krueger 5-6 3-5 13, Hailey Ruggles 2-7 0-0 5, Christine Connolly 0-1 2-2 2, Anna Schrade 1-2 1-1 3, Courtney Mitchell 1-2 3-4 5, Brynn McChesney 2-3 0-0 4, Kali Gulick 1-2 0-0 2, Cadie Williams 1-1 3-4 5, Madison Rauthe 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-40 17-25 68.

BUTTE — Camille McEwen 1-4 0-0 2, Madi Yost 0-1 0-1 0, Ally Cleverly 2-8 2-4 7, Abby Dodge 5-8 6-8 16, Brittney Tierney 0-3 0-0 0, Sam Krzan 0-4 0-0 0, Cameron Cassidy 2-3 0-0 5, Riley Duffy 0-0 0-0 0, Kaidy McClafferty 0-0 0-0 0, Keeley Pochervina 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 10-32 8-13 30.

3-point goals — Glacier 3-9 (Salonen 0-1, Bennett 2-3, Ruggles 1-5), Butte 2-17 (McEwen 0-2, Cleverly 1-7, Dodge 0-1, Tierney 0-1, Krzan 0-3, Cassidy 1-2, Pochervina 0-1). Fouled out — none. Total fouls — Glacier 15, Butte 16. Technicals — none. Rebounds — Glacier (Salonen 5, Krueger 5), Butte 24 (Dodge 10). Blocks — Glacier 2 (Salonen 1, Mitchell 1), Butte 0. Assists — Glacier 8 (Salonen 3), Butte 2 (Dodge 1, Pochervina 1). Steals — Glacier 14 (Kreitinger 5), Butte 7 (Krzan 2). Turnovers — Glacier 14, Butte 23.

Columbia Falls 69, Bigfork 39

COLUMBIA FALLS — The Columbia Falls girls bounded out to a 21-4 lead after the first quarter on the way to a 30-point blowout of Bigfork in a nonconference victory.

Peyton Kehr was 12 of 17 from the floor, including 4 for 5 from 3-point range, to lead the Wildkats with 29 points. Columbia Falls leveled out in the second quarter, but outscored Bigfork 32-19 in the second half to pull away.

“We got off to a good start,” Wildkats coach Cary Finberg said. “Overall I thought our defense set the tone. We had 18 assists as a team we were really sharing the ball well. I was happy with the way the girl played in the last game before the break.”

Sydney Hovde had 12 points and four blocks and Kiara Burlage had nine points and seven rebounds to help the Wildcats to the victory. Columbia Falls won the rebounding battle 40-19.

Miranda Campbell led Bigfork with 15 points and Lana Berg had 10 points.

Bigfork 4 16 10 9 — 39

C. Falls 21 16 17 15 — 69

BIGFORK — Haile Norred 2, Emilee Park 3, Katie Thomas 9, Lana Berg 10, Miranda Campbell 15.

COLUMBIA FALLS — Katie Price 2, Sydney Grilley 2, Haylie Peacock 1, Ellie Johnson 2, Tallia Sova 2, Peyton Kehr 29, Miranda Livingston 4, Kiara Burlage 9, Allyson Gimbel 6, Sydney Hovde 12.

Libby 44, Troy 32

LIBBY — Libby outscored Troy 26-13 in the second half to come from behind and earn a District 7B win.

The Loggers prevailed behind a balanced attack, with four players scoring at least eight points. Shannon Reny had 11 to lead the way, followed by Madisen Monigold (10), Trinity Wallace (9) and Jayden Winslow (8).

Allie Coldwell paced all scorers with 18 in a losing effort.

Troy 12 7 8 5 — 32

Libby 11 7 12 14 — 44

TROY — Allie Coldwell 18, Alyssa Lewis 8, Aurora Becquart 3, Olivia Roach 2, Kaitlyn Downey 1.

LIBBY — Shannon Reny 11, Madisen Monigold 10, Trinity Wallace 9, Jayden Winslow 8, Ashley Walker 3, Abby Eurenga 3.

Boys

Butte 60, Glacier 42

BUTTE — Butte had a big first quarter and closed strong, pulling away from Glacier in a nonconference Class AA game.

Dylan Cook had 20 points and Brock Powell 16 for the Bulldogs in the victory. Butte led 17-9 after the first quarter and 34-22 at half. Glacier cut into the lead in the second half but Butte pulled away late, outscoring the Wolfpack 19-9 in the fourth quarter.

Noah Lindsay and John Learn each had seven points to lead Glacier, which saw eight players score.

Glacier 9 13 11 9 — 42

Butte 17 17 7 19 — 60

GLACIER (2-2) — Noah Lindsay 0 7-8 7, Dylan Ruggles 1 2-2 4, John Learn 3 1-4 7, Tadan Gilman 3 0-0 6, Jake Norberg 2 0-0 5, Caden Harkins 0 0-0 0, Collin kazmier 2 0-2 5, Kady Jarvis 0 0-0 0, Brec Rademacher 0 0-0 , Jake Willich 2 0-0 5, Pat O’Connell 1 0-0 2, Torin Bowden 0 0-1 0. Totals 14 11-19 42.

BUTTE (1-4) — Ryson Lovshin 3 0-2 7, Trey Hoagland 0 0-0 0, Travis Williams 1 0-0 3, Dylan Cook 9 2-2 20, Brock Powell 7 1-1 16, Will O’ Connor 0 0-0 0, Kiley Caprara 0 0-0 0, Evan Anderson 3 1-2 8, Austin Lee 0 0-0 0, Kash Kelly 0 4-4 4, Kyle Klapan 1 0-0 2, Riley Riordan 0 0-0 0, Lathan Ricketts 0 0-0 0. Totals 24 8-11 60.

3-point goals — Kalispell 3 (Dulin 1, Willich 1, Norberg 1), Butte 4 (Lovshin, Anderson, Williams, Cook). Fouls — Kalispell 13, Butte 18. Fouled out — none. Technicals — none.

Bigfork 60, Columbia Falls 45

COLUMBIA FALLS — George Gibson notched a double-double with 17 points and 12 rebounds and Class B Bigfork extended its hot start with a 60-45 win at Class A Columbia Falls Tuesday night.

Gibson’s 17 points led all players.

“He’s had a great season so far but tonight I had trouble taking him off the court,” Vikings coach Sam Tudor said of Gibson. “He was posting up, not doing anything special, just great post play.”

Joseph Potkonjak scored 13 points and Adam Jordt added 10 for Bigfork.

The game was tied at 26 at the half before the Vikings pulled away.

“Columbia Falls came out guns blazing, they really were playing well,” Tudor said. “Gibson kept us in it in the first half.”

Nathan Riley led the Wildcats with 13 points.

Bigfork 14 12 14 20 — 60

Columbia Falls 14 12 7 12 — 45

BIGFORK — Anders Epperly 3, Adam Jordt 10, Joseph Potkonjak 13, Jonathan Landon 9, George Gibson 17, Garrett Beville 8.

COLUMBIA FALLS — Nathan Riley 13, Logan Stephens 6, Austin Green 5, Tyler Murphy 9, Steven DeCamp 8, Dakota Bridwell 4.

Libby 50, Troy 40

LIBBY — Erik Lauer scored 19 points and freshman Ryggs Johnston hit three second-half 3-pointers to lead Libby to a District 7B victory against Troy.

The Loggers trailed by six at the end of one quarter but outscored the Trojans 28-13 over the next two periods.

Johnston did not score in the first half before pouring in 10 in the third quarter alone.

Dillon Savage was the only Trojan in double-figures with 15 points.

Troy 15 6 7 12 — 40

Libby 9 13 15 13 — 50

TROY — Dillon Savage 15, Sean Opland 8, Kolton Winebark 6, Adam Tallmadge 5, Cody Johnston 3, Mason Chapel 3.

LIBBY — Erik Lauer 19, Ryggs Johnston 16, Anthony Johnson 6, Jonny Cielak 5, Jason Brant 3, Colin Maloney 1.