Wolfpack girls go cold, drop state opener to West
GREAT FALLS — The Glacier girls held Billings West to its lowest points all season, but the Wolfpack’s own offensive woes helped the Golden Bears prevail at the State AA tournament Wednesday, 37-29.
Senior guard Kaycee Rider scored a career-high 16 points for West (15-1), which advanced to Friday’s 5:30 p.m. semifinal at Four Seasons Arena. The Bears will face Helena Capital in a matchup of last year’s co-champions. The Bruins (15-1) downed Billings Skyview 51-34 earlier Wednesday.
The Pack, 9-7, fell into a 9 a.m. loser-out game Friday with Skyview.
The other two first-round girls’ games are Thursday.
West 37, Glacier 29
Rider came into the game averaging 2.6 points a game, but caught fire in the third quarter for Billings West, hitting three straight 3-pointers as the Bears’ 23-14 lead ballooned to 32-14 at the 1:12 mark.
The Golden Bears’ surge may have made the second quarter academic: The Wolfpack played great defense but missed nine of 10 field goal attempts and — in the span of three minutes, with the score 18-9 — eight straight free throws. Glacier trailed 19-12 at halftime.
Up 35-19 early in the fourth quarter, West tried to spread the court and gave up two steals to Emma Anderson and one to Ellie Keller. The Bears also missed their share of free throws, going 8-for-27, and went way under their season-low of 42, which came in their loss to Billings Senior.
Glacier drew to 35-24 on two Keller free throws with 3:19 left; Kaylee Fritz hit a three, and Janessa Henson one free throw as Glacier drew to 35-28 in the final minute. That’s as close as it got.
Anderson scored 10 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead the Pack. Keller had eight points, six rebounds and seven steals.
Glacier 6 6 7 9 - 28
Billings West 13 6 13 5 - 37
GLACIER — Sidney Gulick 1-3 1-6 3, Kaylee Fritz 1-5 1-2 4, Emma Anderos 4-12 2-3 10, Ellie Keller 2-12 4-8 8, Kenzie Williams 1-5 0-0 2, Janessa Henson 0-4 1-2 1, Bethany Sorenson 0-0 0-0 0, Kirsten Smith 0-0 0-0 0, Cameron Gilman 0-0 0-0 0, Bailey Gable 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 9-41 9-21 28.
BILLINGS WEST — Layla Baumann 0-5 1-4 1, Bella Murphy 104 1-2 3, Kendall Ellis 1-5 0-0 2, Kaitlin Grossman 1-6 4-10 6, Kaycee Rider 6-10 0-1 16, Sydney Pierce 1-4 1-3 4, Taylee Chirrick 2-10 1-7 5, Halle Haber 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 12-46 8-27 37.
3-point goals - Glacier 1-11 (Fritz 1-3), West 5-14 (Rider 4-7, Pierce 1-2). Rebounds - Glacier 34 (Andrson 10), West 38 (Grossman 12). Fouls - Glacier 20, West 21. Fouled out - Fritz. Steals - Glacier 10 (Keller 7), West 12 (Chirrick 4). Blocks - Glacier 3 (Anderson 2, Gulick), West 1 (Chirrick). Turnovers - Glacier 21, West 16.
Capital 51, Skyview 34
Dani Bartsch had a big game with 14 points, 18 rebounds and four assists for the Bruins, who outscored the Falcons (11-5) 35-17 in the second half.
Paige Bartsch added 12 points and nine rebounds for Capital; Mara McGinley also had 12, including three 3-pointers.
Brooke Berry’s 14 points led Skyview, on 5-for-18 shooting. Cami Harris added 11.
Skyview 2 15 8 9 - 34
Capital 8 8 19 16 - 51
BILLINGS SKYVIEW — Brooke Berry 14, Cami Harris 11, MG Spotted Bear 3, Jessi Henckel 3, Breanna Williams 3.
HELENA CAPITAL — Audrey Hofer 7, Mara McGinley 12, Paige Bartsch 12, Dani Bartsch 14, Kayla Almquist 6.