CROSSTOWN: Glacier girls smother Bravettes in second half
<p>Glacier's Hailey Ruggles fights with Flathead's Kylee Meredith for a loose ball as Hailee Bennett looks on during the first half of the Wolfpack's 59-36 crosstown victory at Flathead on Tuesday. (Aaric Bryan/Daily Inter Lake)</p>
<p>Glacier's Anna Shrade gets past Flathead's Tiana Johnson as she puts up a shot. (Aaric Bryan/Daily Inter Lake)</p>
<p>The Wolfpack's Taylor Salonen (3), Nikki Krueger (21), and Anna Schrade (23) celebrate from the bench after a basket in the final minutes of their victory against Flathead. (Aaric Bryan/Daily Inter Lake)</p>
For one half Tuesday evening, it was a battle.
Glacier struggled early, but managed to claim a 22-18 halftime lead over Flathead in the first crosstown basketball matchup of the season.
The second half, however, was a different story at Flathead High School.
Glacier (8-3 overall, 2-1 league) outscored the Bravettes 37-18 to pull away for a 59-36 Western AA girls basketball victory.
“The first half was a battle,” Glacier coach Kris Salonen said.
“A tight game. Flathead was playing pretty good defense and we couldn’t get any shots to fall. We struggled offensively.”
Salonen made a few adjustments at intermission and Courtney Mitchell, a 6-foot junior forward/center, provided the needed spark.
Glacier outscored Flathead 20-4 in the third quarter for a 42-22 advantage.
“We changed things up defensively, made some adjustments,” Salonen said.
“Kind of played a little more zone and that caused a little havoc.”
Hailee Bennett led Glacier offensively with 17 points.
Mitchell finished with nine points. She also had five steals and six rebounds.
Nikki Krueger also scored nine points for the Wolfpack.
Tiana Johnson had a strong game for Flathead with 14 points and 10 rebounds.
“We needed this, we needed to play the game and got the win,” Salonen said.
“It was fun, but we don’t have much time to celebrate. We get Hellgate on Thursday.”
That game is in Missoula.
Flathead (4-7, 0-3) hosts Hellgate on Saturday.
The Glacier girls have won the last 12 meetings with Flathead and lead the series 15-3. The two teams meet again on Feb. 26 at Glacier.
Glacier 12 10 20 17 — 59
Flathead 10 8 4 14 — 36
GLACIER — Taylor Salonen 3 0-2 7, Anna Schrade 3 1-4 7, Nikki Krueger 2 5-8 9, Courtney Mitchell 4 1-1 9, Hailee Bennett 8 1-2 17, Christine Connolly 0-2 4-6 4, Kali Gulick 3 0-2 6, Cadie Williams 0 0-1 0 Totals: 23-53 12-26 59.
FLATHEAD — Kylee Meredith 1 0-1 2, Sierra Sieblerude 3 0-0 7, Kelsey Gillespie 1 4-6 7, Tiana Johnson 4 3-3 14, Liz Lorentz 1 1-2 3, Cadelyn Nunn 0 1-2 1, Clara Vandenboch 0 0-2 0, Allison Gagnon 1 0-0 2. Totals: 11-43 9-16 36.
3-point goals: Glacier (Salonen), Flathead 5 (Siblerude, Gillespie, Johnson 3); Rebounds: Glacier 41 (Krueger 9), Flathead (Johnson 10); Turnovers: Glacier 11, Flathead 19; Steals: Glacier 16 (Mitchell 5), Flathead 5 (Siblerude 2, Gillespie 2); Fouls: Glacier 14, Flathead 17; Fouled out: None.