Glacier girls fall to top-seeded Knights
HELENA — The Glacier Wolfpack girls basketball team was a longshot to beat top-seeded Missoula Hellgate Thursday, certainly, and it took 33 seconds to see why.
Hellgate’s’ 65-36 first-round win at the Western AA Divisional turned at 3:57 of the first quarter, when Bethany Sorensen’s put-back put the Pack up 6-4.
The Knights (18-1) called time out and by 3:24 they were up 11-6 — on an Alex Covill bucket, a three-point play by Bailee Sayler and a 3-pointer from Chloe Larsen.
Hellgate extended the surge for another 13 points before Noah Fincher scored for Glacier early in the second quarter. That cut the gap to 22-8.
The Pack trailed 33-19 at halftime and 51-28 after three quarters, and would not match Belgrade’s upset of top-seeded Bozeman in the Eastern AA boys divisional.
Fincher led Glacier (5-14) with 12 points. Sorensen was next with eight.
The 6-foot-5 Covill scored 12 points to lead four Knights in double figures.
The good news is the Wolfpack split two regular-season games with its next opponent, Missoula Sentinel. Sentinel dropped a 56-53 decision to Helena High.
The Spartans (8-11) will take on Glacier in a 12:30 p.m. loser-out game Friday, at Carroll College.
First round
Glacier 6 13 9 8 - 36
Hellgate 20 13 18 14 - 65
GLACIER — Sidney Gulick 1-6 2-2 4, Bethany Sorensen 3-6 1-2 8, Reese Ramey 0-2 2-4 2, Noah Fincher 6-10 0-0 12, Kiera Sullivan 1-5 1-2 3, Colette Daniels 2-2 0-0 4, Sarah Downs 0-2 0-0 0, Mady Osler 1-4 0-2 2, Haven Speer 0-2 1-2 1, Emma Cooke 0-0 0-0 0, Bailey Gable 0-0- 0-0 0, Charlotte Osler 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 14-39 7-14 36.
MISSOULA HELLGATE — Lauren Dick 5-8 0-1 10, Bailee Sayler 4-9 1-1 10, Alex Covill 5-12 2-2 12, Keke Davis 3-6 4-7 11, Addy Heaphy 3-5 0-0 7, Elly Thorpe 0-1 0-0 0, Perry Paffhausen 2-5 0-0 4, Chloe Larsen 4-5 0-0 9, Maddy Petrino 0-0 2-2 2, Alix Mund 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-53 9-13 65.
3-point goals — Glacier 1-10 (Sorensen 1-4), Hellgate 4-11 (Larsen 1-1, Sayler 1-2, Davis 1-3, Heaphy 1-3). Fouls — Glacier 11, Hellgate 16. .Rebounds — Glacier 29 (Fincher 5, Sorensen 5), Hellgate 28 (Covill 6). Steals — Glacier 10 (3 with 2), Hellgate 19 (Dick 5). Turnovers — Glacier 24, Hellgate 16.
Helena 56, Sentinel 53
Avery Kraft scored 17 points to lead the Bengals (11-8) into Friday’s 6:30 p.m. semifinal against Hellgate.
After Kraft scored to put Helena up 41-40 with 5:00 left in the game, the Bengals made their next 12 foul shots to eventually lead 55-48 with 42 seconds left.
Kraft ended up 11-for-12 at the line. Alex Bullock and Maloree English added 10 points each.
Brooke Stayner scored 14 points for Sentinel, and Kodi Fraser added 13.