Glacier boys, Flathead girls earn tough wins

Crosstown II played to a packed Flathead High School gym Thursday night, and given the physical play on display, it’s fitting that each game was decided by a touchdown.

The Flathead Bravettes had another tough battle with the Glacier girls, using a 10-0 spurt bridging the third and fourth quarters to subdue the Pack 41-34 in the opener.

In the night cap Glacier’s boys won 42-35 — a marked difference from the first battle, which the Pack won by 37 points in its own gym on Jan. 20.

Wolfpack 42, Braves 35

This one looked like it might get away early again, when Noah Dowler highlighted a 13-2 Wolfpack surge with a pair of dunks. The latter put Glacier 19-7 at 5:09 of the second quarter.

The visitors didn’t score the rest of the half.

“I told the guys I thought we had a great chance to blow that open after those dunks,” Glacier coach Mark Harkins said after his team improved to 10-6, 7-5 in the Western AA. “But again, I give Flathead a lot of credit. They didn’t let us do it. They kept their composure, didn’t get down and made it a heck of a basketball game.”

Trailing 19-12 at halftime, the Braves (1-15, 1-11) saw Glacier’s Adam Nikunen open the third quarter with a three. From there they battled, getting pressure on the Pack’s outside snipers (Ty McDonald missed the game with a sore knee) and keeping bodies on Dowler and Cohen Kastelitz.

“It was a home game, so that helps,” said Flathead’s Noah Cummings, who had a game-high 16 points. “And I think we played a lot better team basketball — we weren’t ‘deer in the headlights,’ you could say. That combined with just being more physical and attacking the rim instead of settling for shots made it a lot closer.”

Cummings’ two free throws at 2:50 of the third quarter cut Glacier’s lead to 23-19. Then a seven-point spurt by sophomore reserve Korbin Eaton — he hit a three, converted a three-point play and turned a steal into a free throw — pared the gap to 29-26 early in the fourth quarter.

Kastelitz, who had 12 points and 14 rebounds, answered that time for Glacier. When Cummings hit two free throws to draw Flathead to 38-35 with 40 seconds left, Kaidrian Buls and Nikunen calmly nailed two of their own to put the game away. Buls had 11 points.

“We let them kind of keep up with us and get momentum,” said Dowler, who had 10 rebounds to go with six points and a pair of blocks. “If we had kept our cool after that first little bit, kept playing, we probably could have kept that going. They got physical and we didn’t really respond to that. But we kept it going just enough.”

Rebounding helped: Glacier owned the glass 21-11 after halftime. Kastelitz seemed to have most of them.

“He just hunts rebounds, pretty much,” Dowler said. “If he sees the ball, he’s going straight for it.“

Flathead is at Missoula Big Sky Tuesday, while Glacier plays at Hellgate.

Glacier 11 8 10 13 - 42

Flathead 5 7 13 10 - 35

GLACIER — Cohen Kastelitz 5-12 2-4 12, Noah Dowler 3-6 0-1 6, Ty Olsen 4-9 0-1 8, Kaidrian Buls 3-11 3-4 11, Adam Nikunen 1-5 2-2 5, Xavier Stout 0-4 0-0 0, Jeff Lillard 0-1 0-0 0, Travys Agan 0-0 0-0 0, Carson Gulick 0-0 0-0 0, Wyatt Cox 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 16-48 7-12 42.

FLATHEAD — Noah Cummings 5-15 5-7 16, Lyric Ersland 2- 0-0 4, Gaberiel Sims 1-6 2-26 4, Slade Burrington 0-3 1-2 1, Josh Eagleton 1-4 0-0 2, Brody Thornsberry 0-0 0-1 0, Michael Manning 0-1 1-2 1, Korbin Eaton 2-2 2-3 7. Totals 11-40 11-20 35.

3-point goals — Glacier 3-17 (Buls 2-7, Nikunen 1-=5, Olsen 0-2, Stout 0-3), Flathead 2-10 (Cummings 1-4, Eaton 1-1, Ersland 0-2, Burrington 0-2, Eaglton 0-1). Rebounds — Glacier 40 (Kastleitz 14, Dowler 10), Flathead 29 (Cummings 6). Fouls — Glacier 18, Flathead 16. Steals — Glacier 4 (Dowler 3), Flathead 9 (Ersland 3). Blocks — Glacier 2 (Dowler 2), Flathead 2 (Sims 2). Turnovers — Glacier 14, Flathead 12.

Bravettes 41, Wolfpack 34

Glacier’s girls had another low-scoring half, with 13 points by intermission. The good news for them is they led by three at that point.

When the Pack’s Kenedee Moore hit a 3-pointer with 30 seconds left in the third quarter the visitors led 21-20.

Single free throws from Flathead’s Kennedy Moore and Akilah Kubi put the Bravettes (13-3, 10-2 in league) back in front before the period ended, That also started a run of 10 straight points, capped by Avery Chouinard’s 3-pointer that made it 30-21 with 5:20 left in the game.

Glacier (2-14, 1-11) kept the pressure, getting a three-point play from Sarah Downs here and a 3-pointer from Cazz Rankosky there.

Keeping the Pack at bay was Maddy Moy, who shook off a slow start by hitting her last three 3-point attempts, two in the fourth quarter. The first put Flathead ahead for good, 15-13; the last made it 33-24 midway through the fourth quarter.

“Shooters gotta shoot,” said the senior, who had a game-high 14 points. “That’s what my team tells me. And my coaches.”

Rankosky’s put-back and the harm cut the gap to 39-34 in the closing minute, but missed the free throw.

“Their game plan was to not let us score, and the first half they held us to 10 points,” Moy said. “Obviously the shots weren’t falling the first half. But then we started getting going the second half and just kind of went off from there.”

Moore added 13 points and five boards for Flathead. Downs led Glacier with 10 before fouling out; the Pack committed 17 second-half fouls, though the Bravettes also missed 17 free throws.

Glacier’s girls next play Tuesday at home against Missoula Hellgate; Flathead hosts Big Sky.

Glacier 5 8 8 13 - 34

Flathead 6 4 12 19 - 41

GLACIER — Sarah Downs 4-8 2-3 10, Kenedee Moore 2-8 2-2 8, Cazz Rankosky 3-7 1-3 8, Noah Fincher 0-3 0-0 0, Reese Ramey 1-8 0-0 3, Haven Speer 1-2 0-0 2, Karly Allen 1-3 0-0 3, Colette Daniels 0-0 0-0 0, Charlotte Osler 0-0 0-0 0. Totlas 12-39 5-8 34.

FLATHEAD — Maddy Moy 4-11 3-6 14, Akilah Kubi 2-6 2-6 6, Kennedy Moore 5-17 3-5 13, Avery Chouinard 1-6 3-4 7, Tali Miller 1-1 0-2 2, Celie VandenBosch 0-3 0-3 0, Harley Roth 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 13-44 11-28 41.

3-point goals — Glacier 5-19 (Moore 2-7, Rankosky 1-1, Ramey 1-6, Allen 1-3, Downs 0-1, Fincher 0-1), Flathead 4-14 (Moy 3-7, Chouinard 1-5, Moore 0-2). Rebounds — Glacier 36 (Ramey 6, Rankoskyh 6, Downs 6), Flathead 34 (Kubi 9, Vandbosch 9, Miller 7). Fouls — Glacier 26, Flathead 11. Fouled out — Downs. Steals — Glacier 4 (4 with 1), Flathead 9 (Chouinard 3). Blocks — Glacier 1 (Rankosky), Flathead 2 (Moy, Moore). Turnovers — Glacier 16, Flathead 9.