Wolfpack slips past Wildkats
<p>Glacier’s Brielle Bumgarner (21) puts up a shot between Columbia Falls’ Winter Kemppainen (24) and Cydney Finberg at Columbia Falls on Thursday. (Aaric Bryan/Daily Inter Lake)</p>
COLUMBIA FALLS — Columbia Falls is No. 1 in Class A. Glacier is No. 2 in AA.
The Wildkats are known for their stifling zone defenses. The Wolfpack rely on suffocating man-to-man pressure.
For the packed house at Larry Schmautz Memorial Gym, the battle fit the bill, but Columbia Falls’ cold streak came at the wrong time as Glacier (7-1 overall) rallied to a 46-40 nonconference victory on Thursday night.
After ending the third quarter on a 7-0 run and outscoring the Wolfpack 14-4 to take a 37-32 lead, the Wildkats (9-1) managed just three points in the fourth while Glacier’s junior guard Hailee Bennett scored eight of her game-high 16 points in the final quarter.
Bennett went 4 for 4 from the free-throw line in the final minute of the game to seal the victory.
“We battled through a lot of struggles in the third quarter. I thought we came together as a team really well,” Bennett said.
“(Coach Kris Salonen) always challenges us with aggressive defense. That’s been a big thing for us to focus on. I think when we came back out after coach challenged us, we locked down on defense. Sometimes shots don’t fall, but if we play good defense the shots will start to fall and we can get those runs.”
Bennett’s second 3-pointer of the night came with 35 seconds left in the first half, and the Wolfpack went into the break leading 28-25.
Columbia Falls’ vigorous third-quarter run was started by senior guard Ciera Finberg. Her jumper in the lane was followed by a 3-pointer, which tied the game at 28-all.
The Wildkats took their first lead of the night on a Peyton Kehr free throw with 4:26 remaining in the third. After Brielle Bumgarner gave Glacier a 32-31 advantage with a free throw, the Wildkats shut out Glacier for the rest of the quarter.
It was the dismal fourth quarter that doomed Columbia Falls.
Finberg made it a two-point game on a free throw with 3:18 remaining. It was also the last point the Wildkats would score, who came into the contest winning by an average of 31 points this season.
“We broke down in the fourth quarter,” Columbia Falls head coach Cary Finberg said.
“In fairness to our girls, it’s the first game where we played anybody that put us into a close situation. We didn’t handle it. (Glacier) is good. Defensively, they’re very good. They’re long and I knew they would give us some problems with that.
“It’s hard to simulate a game like this with some of the games we’ve been in. You can practice it all you want, but you can’t simulate it at game speed in practice. We just haven’t been in enough close games.”
Kehr led the Wildkats with 12 points while Winter Kemppainen added 7 points and eight rebounds.
Bumgarner nearly reached a double-double effort, scoring nine points to go along with her game-high 10 rebounds. Tessa Krueger added seven rebounds and a steal off a Wildkat inbound pass to seal the victory.
“I figured it was going to be a great game by two teams that were going to compete and play hard tonight. We feel very fortunate to come away with a win,” Salonen said.
“Our bigs are going to keep getting better and better each game. Brielle boarded the ball well. Now the challenge for her is to score on the inside. Tessa had one of her best games of the season. We’ve been working her and challenging her. She didn’t have a great offensive game, but with her rebounding and defense, we’re just really proud of her.”
Columbia Falls plays host to Northwestern A rival Whitefish on Saturday at 5 p.m.
Up next for Glacier are the Libby Loggers on Tuesday at 8 p.m.
Glacier 13 15 4 14 — 46
Columbia Falls 8 15 14 3 — 40
GLACIER — Taylor Salonen 1 0-1 3, Brielle Bumgarner 4 1-2 9, Hailee Bennett 5 4-4 16, Katie Wiley 2 3-4 7, Tessa Krueger 2 0-2 4, Nikki Krueger 1 0-2 2, Ali Williams 1 3-6 5. Totals 16 11-21 46.
COLUMBIA FALLS — Ciera Finberg 3 2-6 10, Cydney Finberg 1 1-2 3, Ellie Johnson 1 0-0 2, Peyton Kehr 3 5-6 12, Winter Kemppainen 3 0-4 7, Miranda Livingston 1 0-2 2, Kiara Burlage 2 0-0 4. Totals 14 8-29 40.
3-point goals — Glacier 3-12 (Bennett 2) Columbia Falls 4-20 (Ci. Finberg 2). Rebounds — Glacier 38 (Bumgarner 10), Columbia Falls 39 (Kemppainen 8). Turnovers — Glacier 14, Columbia Falls 15. Fouled out — None.