Wolfpack girls slug Flathead
Glacier forward Nikki Krueger celebrates after Courtney Mitchell made a basket and was fouled during the first quarter of the Wolfpack's 40-34 win against Flathead at Glacier on Thursday. (Aaric Bryan/Daily Inter Lake)
By JOSEPH TERRY
The Daily Inter Lake
The Glacier girls locked down on defense in the second quarter, taking a lead they wouldn’t relent in a 40-34 Western AA conference basketball victory over crosstown rival Flathead on Thursday night at Glacier High School.
It was the fourth straight conference win for the Wolfpack (6-7 overall, 4-1 Western AA) and the 14th straight win against the Bravettes (7-7, 2-4).
“We played great,” Glacier coach Bill Sullivan said. “Crosstown games are challenging and tough. You never know what’s going to happen. Mentally, they were plugged in. Our game plan worked very well.
“Flathead causes a lot of problems. Tiana Johnson is a fabulous player. You hope to contain her and hope the other girls around her don’t hurt you too much.Defensively, great job for our girls.”
Flathead was able to find the holes in the Glacier defense early, working to its spots consistently while building a 10-6 lead in the first quarter. But, the Bravettes offense went cold as Glacier’s was able to find a rhythm, Flathead failing to score for more than four minutes of game time.
Glacier took advantage, tying the game at 10-10 on the first possession of the second quarter. Bravettes wing Tiana Johnson nailed a 3-pointer to retake the lead but a 7-0 run from Glacier put the Wolfpack in front 17-13.
“Force a few turnovers and transition a bit,” Sullivan said. “We like to get a few buckets that way to get our girls going and into that groove. It was a great quarter.”
The lead could have been more, but Glacier missed all four of its free throws in the second quarter, allowing Flathead to stay within two shots despite another scoring lull that lasted nearly five minutes.
The Bravettes got a quick burst to close the half, Johnson pulling up from midrange and Sierra Siblerud nailing a deep two to tie the game at 17-17. Glacier got a quick basket from Courtney Mitchell in the post on the next possession to take a narrow 19-17 lead into the half.
The Wolfpack started the second half on a roll and looked to again take a commanding lead, opening the third quarter on a 9-2 run capped by a Ahna Kreitinger 3-pointer to stretch its lead to 27-19.
Flathead found its form and began to force turnovers on the other end, holding Glacier scoreless for the final 2:53 of the quarter. The Bravettes also began to hit shots on the offensive end, scoring on three straight possessions to end the quarter, cutting the Glacier lead to one point after a inbounds tip-in from Johnson to close out the frame.
However, the Bravettes couldn’t buy a bucket in the fourth quarter, seeing mulitple shots rim out as both teams struggled from the field.
Glacier found the only field goal in the first five minutes of the fourth, as senior center Nikki Krueger found two points in the post to give Glacier a 31-28 lead.
“I thought it was not our best effort,” Bravettes coach Tricia Dean said.
“I think the girls know that. I don’t know if it was a mental thing, that crosstown got in their head, but I don’t feel like that was our team out there.
“Offensively, we weren’t moving the ball like we normally do. We were taking shots that we don’t normally take. It didn’t feel like we quite had the flow of the game ever.”
The Wolfpack’s free throw woes continued to hurt it though, as it tried to draw the ball out and force Flathead to foul late. Glacier missed 5 of 7 from the line to start the fourth, leading just 33-30 when Cadie Williams finally sunk both tries to give Glacier a 35-30 lead with 55 seconds to play.
Flathead made an attempt to close the gap, getting a pair of buckets from senior Kelsey Gillespie, but kept falling behind as the Wolfpack began to hit its free throws down the stretch. After making just 3 of 13 free throws in the first 31 minutes, Glacier closed by hitting 7 of 12 down the stretch to ice the victory.
“We’ve got to hit those,” Sullivan said. “We missed 15 free throws. You can’t do that. The girls hung in there, they made them down the stretch and we got the win.”
Krueger had 10 points and seven rebounds to lead Glacier.
Johnson had 16 points and eight rebounds for the Bravettes.
Glacier will close the weekend on the road against unbeaten Missoula Sentinel. Flathead is off until a road trip next weekend to Helena.
Flathead 10 7 11 6 — 34
Glacier 8 11 10 11 — 40
FLATHEAD — Kylee Meredith 2 0-0 4, Mary Heaton 2 2-2 6, Sierra Siblerud 2 0-0 4, Kelsey Gillespie 1 0-0 2, Tiana Johnson 4 6-7 16, Taylor Henley 1 0-0 2. Totals: 12 8-9 34
GLACIER — Ellie Stevens 0 1-4 1, Nikki Krueger 4 1-4 10, Anna Schrade 1 1-2 3, Cadie Williams 1 6-8 8, Ahna Kreitinger 2 0-0 5, McKenna Hulslander 0 0-2 0, Courtney Mitchell 3 0-3 6, Kali Gulick 3 1-2 7. Totals: 14 10-25 40.
3-point goals—Flathead 2-11 (Johnson 2-7, Meredith 0-2, Gillespie 0-2), Glacier 2-7 (Kreitinger 1-2, Krueger 1-3, Schrade 0-2). Rebounds—Flathead 30 (Johnson 8), Glacier 33 (Krueger 7, Mitchell 7). Total fouls—Flathead 20, Glacier 11. Fouled out—Heaton.