Wolfpack wallops CMR

A frantic Glacier girls team settled into its offense and blew away Great Falls C.M. Russell 50-31 on Saturday afternoon, making up a nonconference Class AA basketball game that was postponed.

Originally scheduled to lead off Glacier’s home schedule this season on Dec. 12, the game against the Rustlers was rescheduled when a whooping cough outbreak spread through Great Falls and knocked out a number of CMR’s players.

Instead, the Wolfpack (4-1) settled for opening off its 2015 schedule against the Rustlers (2-2), and did so with a suffocating defense.

Glacier held CMR to one field goal for nearly the entire first quarter and forced the Rustlers into 12 turnovers in the frame, including seven steals, many of which turned into fast break opportunities.

“CMR’s a good team fundamentally,” Glacier coach Kris Salonen said.

“We were thinking we had to be solid on defense and the girls were.”

Those chances weren’t often turned into points, however, as the Wolfpack also struggled with handling the ball. Glacier had 10 turnovers of its own in the first, many just lost out of bounds on the break, and led just 7-5 at the end of the quarter.

“We just knew we needed to clean it up offensively,” Salonen said.

“It was all in transition, I think we had eight in those situations.”

The Wolfpack were much cleaner before half, closing the frame on a 11-2 run, holding the Rustlers without a field goal for the final 4:45 of the half. Junior point guard Hailee Bennett was aggressive, scoring the final seven points before halftime to give Glacier a 20-10 lead.

Katie Wiley re-enforced the defensive dominance out of the break, opening the half with a pair of steals that turned into breakaway layups. Glacier held CMR without a field goal for the final 5:36 of the third, outscoring the Rustlers 13-1 in the stretch.

Glacier pushed its lead to 49-25 with three minutes to play before giving up a few late free throws.

Bennett finished with a game-high 17 points to lead the Wolfpack and Wiley had 10 points and five steals.

Brianna Easton had nine points and four rebounds to lead CMR.

It was a strong way to start the second half of the season after winning at Missoula Sentinel for the first time in program history on Friday.

“That was a huge win for us and the program,” Salonen said. “To come back and play CMR tonight, and play as well as I think the girls did tonight, we’re going up. One game at a time we need to keep getting better.”

Glacier is back on the road for a game at Polson on Tuesday before hosting Missoula Big Sky Friday night.

C.M. Russell 5 5 5 16 — 31

Glacier 7 13 17 13 — 50

CMR—Courteney Shovlin 1-5 0-2 2, Briana Easton 3-4 3-4 9, Taylor Edwards 1-7 2-2 5, Lindsay Martinez 0-1 0-0 0, Courtney Schroeder 1-5 0-0 2, Zuzu Rudio 1-1 0-0 2, Destany Snider 0-1 0-0 0, Talya Vaira 1-1 0-0 3, Mady Skawinski 1-2 0-0 3, Shana Cosby 0-0 2-2 2, Stevi Farren 0-1 0-0 0, Cailey Froehle 1-2 0-1 2. Totals: 10-30 9-13 31.

GLACIER—Katie Wiley 4-6 2-2 10, Ali Williams 2-3 1-2 5, Brielle Bumgarner 0-4 0-0 0, Taylor Salonen 2-4 2-4 6, Hailee Bennett 5-9 5-6 17, Ahna Krietinger 0-0 1-2 1, Zoee Boschee 1-4 0-0 2, Tessa Krueger 2-6 1-2 5, Nikki Krueger 2-3 0-0 4. Totals: 18-39 12-18 50.

3-point goals—CMR 2-7 (Edwards 1-4, Skawinski 1-2), Glacier 2-3 (Bennett 2-2). Rebounds—CMR 21 (Easton 4), Glacier 25 (Williams 5). Total fouls—CMR 16, Glacier 13. Fouled out—none. Technical fouls—none.