Glacier boys grab 1st place from Sentinel

The Daily Inter Lake

The Glacier boys held off a strong effort from Missoula Sentinel to take sole possession of first place in the Western AA basketball conference on Saturday, topping the Spartans 61-50 at home.

The Wolfpack (13-1 overall, 6-0 Western AA) worked out to a 16-12 lead after the first quarter and 24-21 at half, but never truly pulled away until the fourth quarter, scoring 25 points in the frame while sinking free throws to ice the game.

The win broke a tie between the two teams at the top of the conference, giving the Wolfpack a one-game lead on Sentinel (8-6, 5-1) with six games to play.

Caden Harkins had a team-high 17 points for Glacier and Jaxen Hashley had 16 points and 12 rebounds.

Sam Beiggle led Sentinel with 18 points and Brayden Danzinger had 11 points.

Sentinel 12 9 9 20 — 50

Glacier 16 8 12 25 — 61

SENTINEL — Will Mytty 6 0-1 12, Mitch Roberts 2 2-4 6, Brayden Danzinger 3 3-3 11, Ethan Jones 0 2-2 2, Sam Beiggle 6 3-3 18, Griffin Line 0 1-2 1. Totals: 17 11-15 50.

GLACIER — Collin Kazmier 2 2-2 6, Caden Harkins 2 12-14 17, Brec Rademacher 1 0-0 3, Kody Jarvis 1 0-0 3, Jaxen Hashley 5 6-12 16, Jerimiah Martin 1 2-2 5, Pat O’Connell 1 0-3 2, Tadan Gilman 4 0-2 9. Totals: 17 22-35 61.

3-point goals—Sentinel 5-22 (Beiggle 3, Danzinger 2), Glacier 5-11 (Harkins, Rademacher, Jarvis, Martin, Gilman). Rebounds—Sentinel 15 (Mytty 4), Glacier 21 (Hashley 12). Total fouls—Sentinel 27, Glacier 16. Fouled out—Gilman.

Bigfork 70, Troy 18

TROY — The Bigfork boys secured the District 7B regular season title with a emphatic victory over Troy.

The Vikings (13-3 overall, 7-0 7B) led 16-2 after the first quarter, scored 30 points in the second quarter and held Troy (2-10, 0-7) to seven points in the second half.

Beau Santistevan had a game-high 12 points to lead Bigfork.

Zack Cotten led Troy with five points.

Bigfork 16 30 16 8 — 70

Troy 2 9 6 1 — 18

BIGFORK — Anders Epperly 9, Clayton Reichenbach 8, Colton Reichenbach 4, Luke Schmit 3, Randy Stultz 9, Luke Taylor 2, Logan Taylor 8, Chase Chappuis 6, Logan Gilliard 8, Beau Santistevan 12, Brody Lamar 1.

TROY — Zack Cotten 5, Dillon Savage 3, Tucker Winn 3, Jordan Day 2, Noah Caballero 2, Mason Chapel 3.

Polson 56,

Columbia Falls 34

COLUMBIA FALLS — Polson went up 19-5 in the first quarter and led 33-11 at half in a rout of Northwest A rival Columbia Falls.

Jaydon Bautista, Tanner Wilson and Jeremiah North Piegan each scored 13 points to lead the Pirates (10-5 overall, 4-1 Northwest A). Polson retook a share of first place in the conference with the win.

Dakota Bridwell and DJ Schrade each scored eight points to lead Columbia Falls (2-13, 1-4).

Polson 19 14 9 14 — 56

Columbia Falls 5 6 13 10 — 34

POLSON — Parker Toth 1, J’Von Johnson 3, Jaydon Bautista 13, Tanner Wilson 13, Jeremiah North Piegan 13, Connor Lanier 5, Matthew Rensvold 8.

COLUMBIA FALLS — Austin Green 5, Logan Stephens 5, Quintin Schriver 4, Dakota Bridwell 8, Matthew Morrison 4, DJ Schrade 8.

Thompson Falls 57,

Eureka 46

THOMPSON FALLS — Thompson Falls pulled away early in a comfortable victory over Eureka.

The Blue Hawks (5-10 overall, 4-2 7B) didn’t dominate the game, but slowly started to build a big lead, going up 15-10 after the first quarter and 31-21 at halftime. Thompson Falls led 45-31 by the fourth quarter, coasting to the finish.

Danny Hoisington had a game-high 26 points to lead Thompson Falls.

Jake Cardinale had 14 points to lead Eureka (2-13, 1-5).

Eureka 10 11 10 15 – 46

Thompson Falls 15 16 14 12 – 57

Eureka – Jaime Good 2, Brad Stein 13, Riley Durham 6, Colten Cooper 9, Tayler Sherwood 2, Jake Cardinale 14.

Thompson Falls – McKenzie Holt 6, Dylan Beckman 3, Danny Hoisington 26, Payton Frields 8, John Skerl 2, Garrett Strine 1, Nathan Thibeault 11.

GIRLS

Sentinel 45, Glacier 26

MISSOULA — Glacier couldn’t carry its momentum past the state’s top-ranked team, falling at Missoula Sentinel in a Western AA game.

Sentinel (14-0 overall, 6-0 Western AA) slowly built its lead in the first half, but pulled away in the third quarter, outscoring Glacier 12-4.

“They’re good,” Glacier coach Bill Sullivan said. “They bring us a lot of challenges: length, their ability to extend to the ball. It created a lot of problems for us.

“I thought our effort and hustle was good. Our execution needed to be a bit better.”

Nikki Krueger had 12 points and nine rebounds to lead Glacier (6-8, 4-2).

Glacier 8 10 4 4 – 26

Sentinel 13 13 12 7 – 45

Glacier — Cadie Williams 2 0-1 5, Nikki Krueger 4 2-3 12, Anna Schrade 1 0-0 2, Courtney Mitchell 1 0-0 2, Kali Gulick 1 3-7 5. Totals 9 5-11 26.

Sentinel — Lauren Bingham 3 0-0 6, Emma Blakely 2 2-4 6, Kylie Frohlich 6 2-3 15, Jordyn Schweyen 1 4-6 7, Kayla Daily 2 1-2 5, Lexi Deden 2 0-0 4, Bronwyn McCormick 1 0-0 2. Totals 17 9-15 45.

3-point goals – Glacier 3 (Krueger 2), Sentinel 2 (Frohlich, Schweyen). Rebounds – Glacier 23 (Krueger 9), Sentinel 34 (Frohlich 11). Total fouls – Glacier 10, Sentinel 13. Turnovers – Glacier 21, Sentinel 14 Fouled out – none.

Columbia Falls 87,

Polson 20

COLUMBIA FALLS — Columbia Falls scored as many points in the opening quarter — 20 — as Polson did for the game to claim an easy Northwest A victory and clinch the regular season conference title.

Columbia Falls (14-1 overall, 5-0 Northwest A) led 47-14 at the half and 73-18 after three quarters.

Polson (3-12, 1-4) started strong with 12 points in the opening quarter, but struggled after that.

“I thought when the second quarter came around, our defense really clamped down on them,” Columbia Falls coach Cary Finberg said.

“Ryley Fehr came in and played a tremendous quarter. She scored seven of her nine points and had five assists.

“Sydney Hovde played her best offensive game of the year,” Finberg added.

Peyton Fehr led all scorers with 19 points.

Mikayla Croft topped Polson with nine points.

Polson 12 2 4 2 — 20

Columbia Falls 20 27 26 14 — 87

POLSON — Lauren Lefthand 2, Kaelyn Smith 3, Mollie Fisher 6, Mikayla Croft 9.

COLUMBIA FALLS — Dani Douglas 10, Savvy Ellis 5, Haylie Peacock 2, Cydney Finberg 7, Peyton Fehr 19, Ryley Fehr 9, Kiara Burlage 14, Trista Cowan 5, Sydney Hovde 16.

Troy 46, Bigfork 35

TROY — Troy took over first place in District 7B with a victory over Bigfork.

The Trojans (11-3 overall, 5-2 7B) bounded out to a 10-4 lead in the first quarter and a 24-14 lead at half, holding off a late rally from Bigfork (9-7, 4-3) for the win.

Aurora Becquart led Troy with 16 points.

Abby Ellison led Bigfork with 12 points.

Bigfork 4 10 7 14 – 35

Troy 10 14 10 12 – 46

Bigfork – Shae Anderson 3, Abby Ellison 12, Reece Nissen 2, Jaime Berg 7, Ellie Berreth 6, Rakiah Grende 3, Abby Lembke 2.

Troy – Aurora Becquart 16, Allie Coldwell 13, Kaitlyn Downey 9, Allie Brown 5, Alyssa Lewis 2.

Eureka 42,

Thompson Falls 36

THOMPSON FALLS — Eureka toughed out a District 7B victory over Thompson Falls.

The Lions (9-6 overall, 3-3 7B) built their lead over the first three quarters, holding a 35-25 edge entering the final frame.

Sienna Utter scored 11 points to pace Eureka.

Gillian Nelson paced Thompson Falls (4-11, 0-6) with 11 points.

Eureka 14 11 10 7 – 42

Thompson Falls 10 8 7 11 – 36

Eureka – Sienna Utter 11, Erynn Thier 10, Avory Escobar 6, Ashlyn Waldo 5, Stacy Cooper 4, Liz Pacella 3, Maggie Graves 3.

Thompson Falls – Gillian Nelson 11, Ember Schwindt 10, Haley Morgan 6, Lexy VanElswyk 4, Haley Wilson 3, Belle Cooper 2.