Chasing History

Last March the Bigfork Valkyries put a bow on their final season in Class B, sweeping through three opponents to win the program’s first state basketball championship.

A year later? These Vals might just make history.

They head into the State A tournament at the Butte Civic Center with a 20-1 record, having avenged that one loss and owning wins over four of the other seven teams in the field. 

It’s tough enough for a program to win back-to-back titles; to do it in two different classes is unheard of. Yet here they are. The Vals play tournament newcomer Lockwood Thursday at 8 p.m.

“I knew at the beginning of my sophomore year this was going to be a good team, a special team,” said forward Callie Gembala. “We have a really good dynamic, a lot of team chemistry. 

"I’m not surprised at our results. We did have a couple of tough games, like Dillon and Frenchtown. I think they pushed us further and told us where we needed to be.”

The Vals had a tough opponent at practice Tuesday: They were working one of their defenses against a squad that included Troy Gunlock, Tanner Cummings, Isaac Bartel and Paula Sullivan. Martel and Sullivan are paid assistants. Troy — husband of head coach Cortnee Gunlock — and Cummings are volunteers.

“We just didn’t have a very deep bench, so having some older, or more physical-type people come in and work with us helps,” junior guard Braeden Gunlock said.

“Two years ago, after we took third at state, I felt like we needed people to come in and push these players,” Cortnee Gunlock said. “We had some real special girls, and I learned early on that they can’t come in and help unless they’re volunteer coaches. So I put them on staff.”

“Practicing with them at full speed helps,” junior guard Ava Davey said. “They’re grown men, obviously. Going from them to high school girls, it’s going to slow down for us.”

Braeden Gunlock is, for the third straight season, leading the team offensively. She averages 17.6 points and 9.8 rebounds a game. Paeten Gunlock, a sophomore, is at 13 points a game,, and Davey is at 11.2.

If it falls off a bit from there — Keni Wade adds 6.3 points a game, and Gembala checks at 6.3 points and 5.1 rebounds an outing — the supporting cast is certainly capable. 

“We lost to big players last year, Scout (Nadeau) and Maddie (Chappuis), so we definitely needed someone to fill those spots,” Braeden Gunlock said. “We have Callie and Afton Lambrecht, who have really stepped it up this year. We knew we’d be guard heavy and maybe not have the size down low, but Callie and Afton have worked over the summer and the past year and now we have an inside-outside game.”

Tuesday’s practice ended with two shooting drills, and 11 Vals — Gembala, Lambrecht and Haley Schara are the seniors — hoisted shot after muscle-memory shot with carbon-copy form and a lot of the same results. Not exactly like that scene in “Pleasantville,” when the entire basketball team can’t miss, but close.

“My three guards have been together since third grade and have been coached by some really good coaches,” Cortnee Gunlock said. “Their shots started then. The other girls, it’s been a little bit later that we got the opportunity, and — they’re just great kids. They’re sponges.”

The season began with a 40-37 loss to Frenchtown, on the Broncs’ home floor. Foul trouble ensued and the Gunlock girls and Davey managed 15 shots between them (it’s usually close to 23) and 17 points.

The rematch came in the Western A Divisional championship on Feb. 24, and the trio put up 25 shots. That’s the good news, along with a sterling defense.

“We didn’t shoot well at all,” Cortnee Gunlock said of the 41-29 victory. “We were in the 20s (10 of 42). Our biggest thing is you’re not going to control how you shoot every game, but we can always control how we play defense. 

“It is never pretty when we play each other,” she added. “If we get another opportunity, it will probably be the same battle.”

Frenchtown plays Billings Central — the Vals beat the Rams 46-41 in December — in a first-round game, and is on the other side of the bracket along with Eastern A champion and three-time defending titleist Havre. 

Since Braeden Gunlock and Ava Davey hit the halls of Bigfork High the Vals have gone 70-3. A first-ever state trophy came in 2022. A year ago the Vals had three tough games at the State B, beating Baker, Huntley Project and then Big Timber — teams that finished third, fourth and second — to get that elusive crown.

This weekend figures to be at least as tough, but the Valkyries certainly have a shot. 

“I can’t say I’m surprised we’re competing,” Davey said. “I can say I’m surprised we haven’t lost since early in the year. (The loss) showed us a few things we needed to work on. We know we can lose, people know we can lose, and it was a weight off our shoulders. I think it was good for us.”

“We learned a lot from that game,” Braeden Gunlock said. “It only drove us to be better. We hate losing. We don’t lose very often. Having a loss like that, it only drove us.”