Browning, C-Falls boast talent to take Northwest A hoops races

The Browning Lady Indians are ready to run, the Ronan Maidens are ready to fly and the Columbia Falls Wildkats aren’t going anywhere.

The Northwest A girls basketball season is about to begin, and if perennially strong Columbia Falls isn’t the favorite for the six-team league, don’t count out the Kats.

They made the State A tournament last year, as did Browning; the latter has a strong enough returning cast to be the pick this season.

Meanwhile Columbia Falls seems ready to rise up the boys basketball standings thanks to a sturdy junior class. Ronan and Browning appear to be the main rivals, but it’s a balanced league.

Here’s a look at both seasons:

Girls

“We lost two seniors,” notes Browning’s third-year coach, Poorboy Croff. “We have two seniors this year: Lish Spoonhunter and Mecca Bullchild.”

Bullchild and junior Jerel White Grass were all-conference picks a year ago; Bullchild averaged 15.1 points, and White Grass was at 9.7 points and 5.3 rebounds.

“Lish was hurt most of last year but she’s coming around this year,” said Croff, whose club went 0-2 at the State A tournament. “She’s going to be a big help.”

The Lady Indians are deep enough that Natalie St. Goddard becomes a key reserve after starting last season. Croff also expects big things from Sugar Spoonhunter, and looks forward to a game Saturday against another 2022 State A entrant, Hamilton.

“Hamilton is going to be pretty good. They were young last year,” Croff said. “I’m looking forward to playing them to see where we’re at this season.”

Columbia Falls lost top scorers Grace Gedlaman and Maddie Robison to graduation, and a key reserve, Nevaeh Carlin, moved.

That leaves senior Hope McAtee (11.7 ppg) and junior Lexi Oberholtzer as the main returnees, but veteran coach Cary Finberg has high hopes for a young squad.

“Emalee Alton and Taryn Borgen and Kierra Kemppainen are sophomores that are going to play a lot for us,” he said. “Our top seven players will be three sophomores, three juniors and a senior. We’re young, but we have a group of kids that love to be in the gym.

“Offensively I like where we’re at. It’s just a matter of learning how to play defense at the varsity level and learning how to compete at the varsity level at this point.”

Both Browning and C-Falls went 9-1 in league games last season; Ronan was next at 6-4, and a strong cast returns for a team that will pause its conference slate for a trip to the Alaska Airlines Classic in Anchorage Jan. 19-21.

The Maidens start their season with a game against Hamiton Friday, at the Frenchtown Tip-off; a State A entrant in 2021, Olivia Heiner (9.7 ppg) and Leina Ulutoa could lead the team back.

Whitefish is banking a lot on juniors Ainsley Scott, Hailey Ells, Jude Perry and Bailey Smith (8.4 ppg).

“Those should be the four that carry me this year,” Whitefish coach Bob Bolem said.

Polson, with former Ronan/Whitefish standout Brandie Buckless in as coach, added transfers Mila Hawk (Charlo; she’s a senior point guard) and Addy Gallatin (Snohomish, Wash.; she’s a junior post) to a squad that has Julia Barnard and Grace Simonich back.

Libby is led by a couple of killer Bs: Kinzee Boehmier and Rylee Boltz.

Boys

Columbia Falls had high hopes a year ago, had to pull off a hand-wringing win to get into the divisional, then finished 10-10.

The top four scorers off that team return: Jace Hill (17.8 ppg), Alihn Anderson (10.6), Cody Schweikert and Mark Robison.

“We’ve got a lot back, that’s for sure,” head coach Chris Finberg said. “But only one senior (Bryce Dunham). Kind of a weird combination.”

Junior Hunter Goodman and sophomore Reggie Sapa deepen a talented roster, two of which — Anderson and Hill — have been starters since they were freshmen.

Browning is possibly the Cats’ toughest test: Tommy Running Rabbit (12.2 ppg) and Maurice Redhorn III (11.3) are back for a team that lost a State A play-in game to Frenchtown in March, in triple overtime.

The Indians came back to the Northwest A from the Central A in 2017-18, which was also Dan Connelly’s first year as coach. They promptly won 29 of their first 30 league games. Heavily affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, they won just two conference games in 2020-21; they now appear close to what they were.

“I have a good nucleus coming back,” said Connelly, adding that Cut Bank transfer Robert Reagan deepens the roster. “We did a lot of summer ball, a lot of AAU stuff, a lot of weight room. We’ve improved quite a bit.

“We had such good momentum going and (Covid-19) just stopped us in our tracks. I think we’re going to be pushing right there for the top spot.”

Ronan, which will also play at the Alaska Airlines Classic in January, rates highly thanks in large part to brothers Marlo and Elijah Tonasket. They combined for 23.8 points a game a year ago; Marlo averaged 6.5 rebounds as well.

Polson and Whitefish are under new leadership: Jake Dahlgren, a Belgrade alum and a physical therapist, joins the coaching ranks after years working in individual player development.

Jarrett Wilson (13.3 ppg) and Trent Wilson (8.2) return from a team that took third at last season’s State A tournament; Dahlgren will mix in the third Wilson triplet, Colter, along with Dawson DuMont and Owen McElwee among others..

Alex Gonzalez, a retired policeman who spent years coaching summer elite teams in Las Vegas, takes over in Whitefish. The Bulldogs got their season started with a 61-49 non-league win over Eureka last week. Mason Genovese, Mason Kelch and Josh Downie led the way.

A lack of practices kept some Bulldogs from making their season debut until this week.

Libby lost high-scoring Caden Williams to graduation, but returns a solid trio in TJ Anderson (13.3 ppg), Tyler Anderson and Cy Stevenson.

Every Northwest A team will be playing at the Frenchtown Tip-Off Tournament that begins today. The long-term goal is to claim one of three automatic berths into the Western A Divisional Feb. 23-25 in Ronan.

A pair of play-in games (fifth vs. sixth; winner takes on the fourth-place team) will decide the fourth seed.

A year ago Hill helped Columbia Falls reach the Western A with two 3-pointers in the last 7 seconds of a 63-62 play-in win over Ronan. Hill’s coach would prefer a more direct route.

“The way they’re doing the seeding, it’s going to be important to get one of the top three spots,” Chris Finberg said. “As exciting as our playing game was last year, I’d like to avoid that.”