Wildcats falter late in loss to Hamilton
Columbia Falls’ Austin Green drives to the basket with Hamilton’s Camron Rothie (1) and Carter Kearns (30) defending at Columbia Falls High School on Saturday. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Columbia Falls’ Matthew Morrison drives to the basket with Hamilton’s Carson Rostad defending at Columbia Falls High School on Saturday. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Columbia Falls’ Quintin Schriver drives to the hoop in the first quarter against Hamilton at Columbia Falls High School on Saturday. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Columbia Falls’ Matthew Morrison lays in two points in front of Hamilton’s Camron Rothie at Columbia Falls High School on Saturday. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Columbia Falls’ Lowell Panasuk drives to the basket with Hamilton’s Carson Rostad defending at Columbia Falls High School on Saturday. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Columbia Falls’ Quintin Schriver drives to the hoop with Hamilton’s Carter Kearns defending at Columbia Falls High School on Saturday. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Columbia Falls’ Austin Green sinks the bucket and the ensuing free throw after being fouled on his way to the hoop by Hamilton’s Tyler Barnes at Columbia Falls High School on Saturday. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Columbia Falls’ Quintin Schriver lays in two points off the opening tip against Hamilton at Columbia Falls High School on Saturday. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Columbia Falls’ Logan Bechtel lays in two points ahead of Hamilton’s Tyler Chouinard at Columbia Falls High School on Saturday. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Columbia Falls’ Logan Bechtel has his shot blocked by Hamilton’s Hunter Omlid at Columbia Falls High School on Saturday. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Columbia Falls’ Quintin Schriver looks to shoot in the first quarter with Hamilton’s Carson Rostad defending. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
COLUMBIA FALLS — Hamilton pulled away late to down Columbia Falls 61-48 in a nonconference boys basketball matchup on Saturday.
Carter Kearns was the game’s high scorer with 17 points for Hamilton. Hunter Omlid and Tanner Goligoski added 12 each for the visitors.
Columbia Falls fell behind by four points at halftime and trailed by five entering the fourth quarter, but Hamilton outscored the Wildcats 16-8 in the fourth quarter to create a bit of late separation.
Matthew Morrison led Columbia Falls with 13 points. Quintin Schriver and Austin Green also scored in double digits for the Wildcats with 11 and 10, respectively.
Hamilton 16 17 12 16 — 61
Columbia Falls 16 13 11 8 — 48
HAMILTON: Cam Rothie 7, Carson Rostad 5, Bridger Bauder 2, Tyler Chouinard 6, Hunter Omlid 12, Tanner Goligoski 12, Carter Kearns 17.
Columbia Falls: Austin Green 10, Drew Morgan 7, Lowell Panasuk 3, Quintin Schriver 11, Logan Bechtel 4, Matthew Morrison 13.
Polson 58, Whitefish 51
WHITEFISH — Polson edged Whitefish in a Northwest A conference clash.
Connor Lanier paced the Pirates with 16 points, and Robin Erickson added 14. Shade Main threw in 12.
Polson overcame a slim halftime deficit with a 16-8 third quarter.
Whitefish also had a trio of double-digits scorers. Ryan Kemm led the way with 15 points. Lee Walburn had 12, and Dillon Botner scored 10.
Polson 19 11 16 12 — 58
Whitefish 20 12 8 11 — 51
POLSON: Robin Erickson 14, Ryker Wenderbroth 3, Connor Lanier 16, Shade Main 12, Trevor Schultz 2, Sam Schultz 9, Weston Danley 2.
WHITEFISH: Alex Keuylian 3, Caleb Meehan 2, Mark Anderson 9, Ryan Kemm 15, Lee Walburn 12, Dillon Botner 10.
Browning 81, Ronan 33
BROWNING — Browning trounced Ronan 32-3 in the first quarter of a Northwest A conference blowout.
Tyree Whitcomb led 10 Browning scorers with 19 points. Other double-digit scorers for the Indians included Brandon Aimsback (16), Dion Madthumb (14) and Derek Loring (11).
Only three players made their way into the scorebook for Ronan. Dallas Durheim scored a team-high 19, and Anthony Camel added 11.
Ronan 3 16 12 11 — 33
Browning 32 16 17 16 — 81
Ronan: Randy Finley 3, Dallas Durhim 19, Anthony Camel 11.
Browning: Derek Loring 11, CJ Smith 2, Derek Sharp 3, Ethan Runningcrane 8, Payton Crawford 2, Justin Bird 5, Dion Madthumb 14, Tyree Whitcomb 19, Latrall Bullchild 1, Brandon Aimsback 16.
Florence 72, Troy 38
TROY — Florence ran away from Troy early in a decisive win.
The Falcons, who outscored the Trojans in each quarter, led 38-18 by halftime.
Trevor Hoagland, Troy’s only scorer in double digits, had 11 points.
Florence 17 21 20 14 — 72
Troy 11 7 10 10 — 38
Florence: Brent Stroppel 21, Marcus Zeiler 14, Parker Hotsinpiller 10, Zack Christopherson 5, Tyce Petersen 4, Dillon Christopherson 4, Brenden Bailey 3, E. Pederson 3, Trevyn Wood 2, Ethan Post 2.
Troy: Trevor Hoagland 11, AJ Faur 6, Dylan Cummings 5, Alex Freund 8, Ricky Fisher 3, Jaymin Stever 3, Tyler Gromley 2.
Girls
Columbia Falls 46,
Hamilton 33
HAMILTON — Columbia Falls stormed back from an early deficit to pick up a double-digit, nonconference win over Hamilton.
Trista Cowan scored 14 points for the Wildkats, who trailed 11-6 after the first quarter.
Columbia Falls roared back to win the final three quarters. It carried a 21-18 lead to the locker room at halftime thanks to a 15-7 second quarter.
Columbia Falls 6 15 14 11 — 46
Hamilton 11 7 8 7 — 33
Columbia Falls: Dani Douglas 6, Lakia Hill 5, Hannah Gedlaman 8, Josie Windauer 6, Ryley Kehr 7, Trista Cowan 14.
Hamilton: Tessa Della Silva 7, Tristy Searle 4, Kara Nye 5, Mallory McGill 6, Cariann Kunkel 8, Lauren Ryter 3.
Polson 53, Whitefish 48
WHITEFISH — Kaelyn Smith poured in 19 points to lead Polson to a Northwest A conference win over Whitefish.
The Pirates overcame a seven-point deficit by outscoring the Bulldogs 18-6 in the fourth quarter.
Alex Pierre added 13 for Polson, and Jaycee Frydelund chipped in 12.
Annisa Brown matched Smith’s 19 points to pace Whitefish.
Polson 10 6 19 18 — 53
Whitefish 9 15 18 6 — 48
POLSON: Marina Mayorga 2, Kaelyn Smith 19, Quinn Motichka 4, Alex Pierre 13, Olivia Perez 3, Jaycee Frydelund 12.
WHITEFISH: Kit Anderson 4, Hope Brown 4, Claire Carloss 2, Kaiah Moore 6, Ashton Ramsey 5, Annisa Brown 19, Payton Kastella 6, Marlee Bender 2.
Eureka 54, Anaconda 41
ANACONDA — Erynn Thier, Sienna Utter and Cassie Hammack each scored in double figures to guide Eureka to a win over Anaconda.
A lackadaisical fourth quarter did nothing to harm the Lions, who built a 37-26 halftime lead and expanded it to 51-32 after the third quarter.
Thier and Utter each scored 11, and Hammack added 10 points in a balanced scoring effort for Eureka.
Eureka 17 20 14 3 — 54
Anaconda 12 14 6 9 — 41
Eureka: Erynn Thier 11, Sienna Utter 11, Cassie Hammack 10, Maggie Graves 7, Megan Hanson 6, Avory Escobar 5, Liz Pacella 4.
Anaconda: Logan Stetzner 14, Sydnie Peterson 12, Arieona Mattson 3, Isabel Saltenberger 3, Johannah Forsberg 2, Megan Reich 2, Lyndsey Seitzinger 2, Claire Miller 2, Mia Sullivan-Sanders 1.
Florence 44, Troy 37
TROY — A strong start and strong finish weren’t enough to make up for the lull between them in Troy’s loss to Florence.
Troy scored 18 points in both the first and fourth quarters, but managed only one point in the second and third quarters combined.
Allie Coldwell led the Trojans with 18 points.
Florence 5 12 13 14 — 44
Troy 18 1 0 18 — 37
Florence: Emma Stensrud 2, Joey Janetski 1, Jewel Zeiler 5, Rilee Mangun 16, Makenna Liles 5, Danielle Zahn 15.
Troy: Aurora Becquart 4, Annie Day 2, Allie Coldwell 18, Kaitlyn Downey 4, Grace Dolan 4, Katelynn Tallmadge 3, Montana Rice 2.
F.V. Homeschool 38,
FCCS 25
GREAT FALLS — Flathead Valley Homeschool doubled up Foothills Community Christian School 24-12 in the first half on its way to a win.
Codi Kenney and Karissa Williams both poured in 12 points for the Crusaders.
FVHS 11 13 3 11 — 38
FCCS 5 7 9 4 — 25
FVHS: Codi Kenney 12, Yayna Myers 2, Corey Connerly 10, Cassidy Husted 2, Karissa Williams 12.
FCCS: Raina Lindseth 8, Keileigh Fullbright 4, Kenzie Huston 13.