Wolfpack ready to wrestle West in first round
The Glacier girls, now on their fourth consecutive trip to the Class AA state tournament, is still seeking their first run of sustained success in the postseason.
The Wolfpack, which won its first tournament game last season, is only 1-6 at state. The third seed out of the tough Western conference this season, Glacier looks to reverse that trend when it takes on Billings West at 6:30 p.m. today in the first round at the Butte Civic Center.
West, the second seed from the East, throttled Butte 68-27 after a 10-10 regular season to earn its way into state. Even with the middling record, the Golden Bears are extremely talented, boasting two of the top 10 scorers in the state in MorningRose Tobey, averaging 16.6 points per game, and Haylea Elkin, 13.2 ppg, and the state’s top rebounder in Kennedy Hildebrand at 10. 6 rebounds per game.
“You’ve got to respect that,” Glacier coach Kris Salonen said.
“You’ve got to keep an eye on that. We’ve got some things that we’re ready to throw at them.”
For its part, Glacier has been much more balanced this season, relying less on a single star as it has in the past. Junior guard Hailee Bennett leads the charge, averaging 13.5 points and 3.7 rebounds per game, both top 10 marks this season. They also have seen contributions from their deep line of 6-foot-or-taller forwards, including Katie Wiley, Tessa and Nikki Krueger, Brielle Bumgarner. Taylor Salonen, who at 5-foot-11 starts in the backcourt alongside Bennett, has provided help from the perimeter.
That size has helped tremendously on defense and the variety has helped on offense, where in the past teams have been able to key on one player and stall the Wolfpack on the scoreboard.
“You feel really good about that because they can’t just take one person out,” Kris Salonen said.
“We’re utilizing our posts much more than we had early on in the season. We have other girls stepping up, playing with confidence, playing well right now. That’s what you need. You can’t rely on one person. You need to have everybody on the team playing well, playing with confidence. I really believe we are right now.”
Top-seeded Helena Capital and Bozeman enter the tournament as favorites, along with three-time defending champions Missoula Sentinel.
“The best eight teams are there,” Kris Salonen said. “You’ve got to play your best to compete and try to win games.”
Glacier opens on the same side of the bracket as Capital and Great Falls C.M. Russell. Sentinel opens the tournament against Billings Senior and Bozeman plays Missoula Big Sky on the opposite half.
“Our hope is to get past Thursday,” Kris Salonen said. “You at least give yourself a chance if you win Thursday. If you don’t win the opening round it makes it that much harder.
“You’d like to get there and get that first win then anything can happen from there.”
CLASS AA BOYS
Missoula Hellgate enters the tournament with just one loss on the season and with the state’s best player, senior wing Tres Tinkle, looks to reclaim the state championship it narrowly lost last season.
The Knights will see tough competition from Eastern powers Billings West and Billings Skyview, along with defending state champion Helena Capital, which handed Hellgate its only loss this season.
Hellgate opens against athletic Great Falls, the fourth seed from the East. West will play Missoula Big Sky on the same side of the bracket. Helena Capital starts the tournament against Bozeman and Skyview will play Missoula Sentinel on the other side.