Pack of 2: Glacier’s Gulick, Sorensen lead team into Western AA

The tandem of Bethany Sorensen and Sidney Gulick didn’t always work for the same side, not that elementary school athletics are all that cutthroat.

“She went to Edgerton. And I went to Peterson,” Sorensen said. “I remember always playing against her, and that it was fun.”

These days the duo makes up the senior class for the Glacier Wolfpack girls basketball team. If the season hasn’t always one swimmingly — the Pack is 5-13 and has won two league games going into the Western AA Divisional — it’s hard to imagine where Glacier would be without its seniors.

They’ve led in scoring a total of 13 times, seven by Gulick. This makes sense: Gulick’s dad Pat was a standout at Whitefish, helping the Bulldogs to their last state basketball title in 1991 before playing football at Montana State; Sorensen’s uncle Doug Hashley is in the MSU Hall of Fame for his play with the basketball Bobcats.

Usually 1-2 punches involve a point guard, but these two are big forward-small forward.

“In many ways, Beth and Sid’s games could not be more different,” Coach Amanda Cram said. “But without them on the court, we’d be much different. They both bring a lot to the crew — a lot of it is leadership, showing our youth the way, and they obviously have the skill to help us stay in games. I hope they have a great tournament.”

Sorensen is the team’s top scorer (10.2 points a game) and rebounder (5.8 average). Right behind her is Gulick (9.5 ppg and 5.2 rpg).

The rest of Glacier’s rotation — junior Colette Daniels being the exception — is young. Sarah Downs, Noah Fincher and Haven Speer are sophomores. Reese Ramey is averaging 6.1 points and fellow freshman Kenedee Moore was contributing nicely before being sidelined by a knee injury.

“We knew this team was going to be young, and that Sid and I were going to have to be leaders,” Sorensen said. “We knew we had to set the precedent — ‘This is the varsity game.’ It’s something we knew we had to step into.”

Sorensen is among the Class AA leaders from the 3-pointer arc.

“I think she really puts in a lot of work for herself, and our team,” Gulick said. “She put in so much offseason time. Shooting-wise, everything.”

“I love Sidney,” Sorensen said. “She’s a great athlete and she’s such a great person, and always willing to help others. She’s great to have on the team.”

Soon they’ll split apart again. Gulick will play volleyball at Carroll College, and Sorensen is going to play basketball at Providence.

First there’s a high school season to finish. Things started well enough, with three wins in four non-conference games. But the Western AA is a tough hill to climb, and Glacier’s run of five straight State AA berths is in danger.

The Pack will start off with league-leading Missoula Hellgate today at 12:30 p.m. at Carroll College.

The good news: Eight of Glacier’s losses have come by single digits. The coach’s refrain is, “Let’s keep these guys in range.” The Pack has done that.

“Obviously there are some bigger losses,” Cram noted. “But with all the losses 10 and under — they’re certainly frustrating but also give us hope that we can play our best basketball at divisional, and come out with two wins.”

“We’re definitely very close,” Gulick said. “I think just because of our lack of experience, we can get there but we just need that final push to be better and win games.”

“I knew it was going to be hard, just because we have such little experience. But

I really like all our teams. No drama, or anything. Everybody gets along.”

“We’re definitely getting there,” said Sorensen. “There’s a lot of little things we need to clean up this week, and I think we’ll have a good tournament.”