Wildkats roll by Bravettes

Top-ranked Columbia Falls was relentless with its pace on offense and defense in the first half of its nonconference girls basketball game at Flathead on Friday, outscoring the Bravettes 23-4 over a nine-minute stretch on its way to a 72-34 rout.

The Wildkats (11-1 overall) forced Flathead (3-7) into 28 turnovers, the bulk coming during the second quarter, when Columbia Falls moved to its full-court pressure defense. The press, along with a fast-break offense that moved the ball quickly up the floor, wore down the Bravettes, who were already missing two of their top players entering the game.

“We’re upping the tempo as much as we can,” Wildkats coach Cary Finberg said.

“We’ve been deep all year long and our bench came in and did a good job for us again tonight. We want tempo up. We feel we have more depth than most teams, so we want that tempo up. Hopefully we wear teams down as the game goes on.”

That tempo worked wonders. Already leading 18-11 with a minute to play in the first quarter, thanks to a huge advantage on the glass, the Wildkats turned up the press and quickly scored a pair of buckets to close the period. Over the next seven minutes they had no fewer than six steals and outscored Flathead 15-2 to start the second quarter. The Bravettes were able to break behind the press just one time, scoring on a layup from Mary Heaton, before going cold for another five minutes.

By the time Columbia Falls pulled back, the Wildkats led 41-15 at halftime. Columbia Falls opened the third quarter on a 10-2 run and led by 40 in the fourth quarter before the Bravettes were able to get some points back against the reserves.

“They’re a good team,” Flathead coach Lisa Hendrickson said. “What really killed us was the fast break and not getting back on defense.

“It wasn’t our best game. We’ve been keeping teams in the 40s and for someone to score in the 70s against us, I’m not very pleased with. I know we have a better defensive effort.”

Ciera Finberg led the Wildkats with 22 points and Winter Kemppainen had 16 points and 11 rebounds as each were part of an offense that moved the ball very well against the Bravettes.

“The girls were playing unselfish and did a great job of moving the ball when they were covered and somebody else was open,” Finberg said.

“I was happy with the way we started and I thought we played throughout. We didn’t let down. The girls competed for 32 minutes.”

Kylee Meredith had a team-high nine points for Flathead.

Columbia Falls is back on the floor tonight in conference play at the second-place team in Northwestern A, Frenchtown.

Glacier is off until Thursday, when it hosts crosstown against Glacier.

Columbia Falls 22 19 23 8 — 72

Flathead 11 4 10 9 — 34

COLUMBIA FALLS — Ciera Finberg 8 4-7 22, Sydney Grilley 1 1-1 3, Cydney Finberg 3 1-2 7, Ellie Johnson 3 0-0 8, Peyton Kehr 2 0-0 6, Winter Kemppainen 8 0-1 16, Kiara Burlage 3 3-4 9, Allyson Gimbel 0 1-2 1. Totals: 28-52 10-17 72.

FLATHEAD — Kylee Meredith 3 2-2 9, Janae Moon 2 0-0 5, Stephanie Wilson 1 0-0 2, Kelsey Gillespie 2 0-0 6, Sierra Siblerud 1 0-0 2, Mary Heaton 1 0-1 2, Lauren 1 0-0 2, Jessica Simmons 0 2-2 2, Taryn Gutierez 2 0-0 4. Totals: 13-41 4-5 34.

3-point goals—CF 5-14 (Ci. Finberg, Johnson, Kehr 2), Flathead 4-9 (Gillespie 2). Rebounds — CF 27 (Kemppainen 11), Flathead 15 (Gutierez 3). Total fouls — CF 7, Flathead 13. Fouled out — none.