Wolfpack edges Timberwolves

Shooting woes can doom any basketball team as can a significant height disadvantage.

The Glacier Wolfpack battled both obstacles in a thrilling 45-44 nonconference girls home victory over Lake City, Idaho, on Saturday afternoon.

After shooting just 25 percent from the field in the first half, Glacier (9-1 overall) was 10 for 22 in the final two quarters. No field goal was bigger than senior post Brielle Bumgarner’s layup with 18 seconds left to give the Wolfpack a one-point advantage. It was Bumgarner’s only field goal of the game and it came over Lake City’s 6-foot-4 Lauren Rewers.

“We have a play called ‘Weak.’ We set it up and we know that we’re going to screen for Brielle off the back side,” Glacier coach Kris Salonen said. “She came through it and was wide open and made the bucket. She’s pretty good at making that shot.”

The Timberwolves (8-3) had a chance for the win, inbounding the ball under Glacier’s basket with three seconds left. Both Rewers and Clarissa Smith missed shots in a scramble underneath the hoop, and the Wolfpack came away victorious.

Bumgarner, Ali Williams, Nikki Krueger and Tessa Krueger — all listed at 6-1 or shorter — combined for 15 rebounds while holding Rewers to just two boards.

“We knew we probably had to keep Brielle and Nikki on (Rewers) because she was so big, but Ali and Tessa had their time against her, too,” Salonen said.

“All four of them battled. The boards were huge. We kept her off of them.”

Hailee Bennett led the Wolfpack with 16 points — her most influential basket was 3-point play with 53.7 seconds remaining in the contest.

Coming out of a Lake City timeout, Bennett stole the inbounds pass, drove to the hoop and dropped in a layup as she was fouled. Her free throw gave Glacier a one-point lead.

Glacier led 11-10 after the first quarter, but a slow start plagued the Wolfpack, who trailed at the half.

The Timberwolves went on a 10-2 run in the first 3:27 of the second quarter when Whitney Meier and Clarissa Smith drained 3-pointers, forcing Glacier to call a timeout.

The Wolfpack closed the gap in the final three minutes of the first half as it reached the bonus and went 6 for 8 from the line. After Tessa Krueger sank two free throws with 16.7 seconds left, Katie Wiley stole a Lake City pass at half court and finished her layup with 5 seconds remaining, cutting Glacier’s halftime deficit to 26-21

“Katie is up their just bating them. She can get some steals,” Salonen said. “It’s hard to pass through her because she does a good job of monitoring it and filtering the girls to the side so we can trap.”

The Wolfpack, who held Lake City to just six points in the fourth quarter, saw Taylor Salonen lead the team with seven rebounds while adding six points. Tessa Krueger finished with seven points while Nikki Krueger scored six.

“We weren’t scoring very well. We were struggling offensively,” Salonen said.

“We told them: ‘Let’s get buckets off of things that we have control over.’ We know that we can get some transition buckets, which we didn’t do in the first half. We challenged them to do that. We know we can score off our defense, but most importantly, when we have the ball offensively, run the offense. We weren’t being very patient in the first half. We were just kind of taking our first look, so that’s what we did better in the second half. We executed and we got better looks.”

Glacier takes its come-from-behind victory on the road into Tuesday’s Western AA matchup with Missoula Hellgate at 7:15 p.m.

Lake City 10 16 12 6 — 44

Glacier 11 10 12 12 — 45

LAKE CITY — Halle Eborall 1-2 2-2 4, Natalie Wheelock 0-2 1-2 1, Clarissa Smith 3-6 2-2 9, Lauren Rewers 5-12 2-4 12, Whitney Meier 4-13 0-0 12, Kate Manyon 2-2 0-0 4, Keara Simpson 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 16-38 7-10 44.

GLACIER — Katie Wiley 1-4 2-2 4, Tessa Krueger 2-8 3-4 7, Brielle Bumgarner 1-3 2-4 4, Taylor Salonen 2-6 1-2 6, Hailee Bennett 7-20 1-1 16, Nikki Krueger 3-7 0-0 6, Ali Williams 1-2 0-1 2. Totals 17-50 9-14 45.

3-point goals — Lake City 5-12 (Meier 4-9, Smith 1-2), Glacier 2-10 (Bennett 1-4, Salonen 1-3). Rebounds — Lake City 26 (Eborall 5, Wheelock 5), Glacier 26 (Salonen 7, Williams 6, N. Krueger 4). Assists — Lake City 7 (Wheelock 3, Smith 2), Glacier 7 (Wiley 2, Salonen 2, Bennett 2). Turnovers — Lake City 19, Glacier 11, Totals fouls — Lake City 15, Glacier 11. Fouled out — None.