Gedlaman, C-Falls girls check Browning, 70-65

The Daily Inter Lake

COLUMBIA FALLS — Columbia Falls held off a strong second-half charge by Browning for a 70-65 Northwest A conference girls basketball victory on Thursday evening.

Columbia Falls made 5 of 6 free throws in the final 20 seconds to ice it.

Browning closed to within one, twice, but never led.

Columbia Falls was 16 of 24 for the game at the charity stripe and was 8 for 13 in the final quarter.

“The girls did a good job weathering the storm,” Columbia Falls coach Cary Finberg said.

“It was a fun, entertaining basketball game.”

Hannah Gedlaman tallied a career high 26 points and 17 rebounds for Columbia Falls.

Dani Douglas followed with 15 points and Ryley Kehr netted 13.

Tanika Guardipee topped Browning with 16.

Columbia Falls held a 40-26 advantage at the half.

The Wildkats (10-1 overall, 5-0 league) play at Hamilton on Saturday.

Browning 16 10 21 18 — 65

Columbia Falls 22 18 15 15 — 70

BROWNING — Walker Runningcrane 8, Lacy Goff 5, Olivia Hall 2, Taylor Jordan 9, Ronnal Jordan 12, Dulci Skunkcap 13, Tanika Guardipee 16.

COLUMBIA FALLS — Dani Douglas 15, Savvy Ellis 2, Lakia Hill 2, Hannah Gedlaman 26, Josie Windauer 2, Ryley Kehr 13, Diana Vasquez 4, Trista Cowan 6.

Libby 50, Ronan 38

LIBBY — Libby raced out to a 15-2 lead after the first quarter, a quarter that proved to be the difference, in a Northwest A win over Ronan.

Jayden Winslow took scoring honors with 18, helping Libby overcome Ronan and Micalann McCrea’s 16 points.

Sammee Bradeen chipped in 11 for the Loggers.

The Chiefs outscored Libby 36-35 in the final three quarters, but it wasn’t enough to overcome their slow start.

Ronan 2 9 13 14 — 38

Libby 15 9 10 16 — 50

RONAN — Micalann McCrea 16, Regan Clairmont 8, Jaelynn Askan 2, Louetta Conko-Camel 8, Madeline McCrea 2, Kianna Finley 2.

LIBBY — Emma Gruber 2, Alli Collins 5, Jayden Winslow 18, Sammee Bradeen 11, Khalyn Hageness 7, Shannon Reny 8.

Boys

Libby 59, Ronan 52

LIBBY — Ryggs Johnston scored 11 of his 23 points in the fourth quarter as Libby rallied by Ronan for a Northwest A conference victory.

Libby, down 38-36 heading into the fourth quarter, outscored Ronan after that 23-14.

Jay Beagle added 11 points and Keith Johnson 10 for Libby.

Zeke Misa topped Ronan, and all scorers, with 25 points.

Ronan 12 17 9 14 — 52

Libby 16 10 10 23 — 59

RONAN — Zeke Misa 25, Randy Finley 3, Nate Dennis 4, Dallas Durheim 7, Anthony Camel 13

LIBBY — Brian Peck 2, JJ Davis 5, Ryggs Johnson 23, Jay Beagle 11, Loran Christenson 4, Nick Jones 4, Keith Johnson 10.

Browning 57,

Columbia Falls 46

BROWNING — Browning doubled up Columbia Falls 22-11 in the first quarter and outscored the visitors 41-26 in the first three quarters to comfortably survive a Northwest A clash despite a fourth-quarter Wildcat rally.

Columbia Falls scored 20 points in the final frame, but it was too little and too late to overcome the large margin built by the Indians, who limited the Wildcats to single-digit scoring in two of the first three quarters.

No individual statistics were available.

Columbia Falls 11 8 7 20 — 46

Browning 22 6 13 16 — 57

Individual stats not available