Keeping Score: Overtime drama, wrestling champions and basketball battles

Welcome everybody to another Keeping Score podcast presented by Corwin Motors. This week’s highlights include another crosstown epic matchup, the wrestling divisionals come to an end and much more basketball to cover as swimming teams had the week off as they get ready for state. Let’s get into to this week’s highlights.  

Thursday night’s crosstown matchup in girls basketball was an instant classic as Glacier and Flathead went into overtime, featured multiple clutch shots and emotions ran high in the rivalry matchup.  

Reese Ramey banked in a 3-pointer to force overtime and hit another just before the end of the extra frame to give the Glacier girls a 58-55 win over Flathead. Reese finished with 25 points — 12 coming in overtime — eight assists and 12 steals on the evening.

Sami Dalager put the Bravettes ahead 44-41, going 1 of 2 from the foul line, heading into Glacier’s final possession in regulation. Reese took the inbound and dribbled down the clock before taking a step back three from straight away that caught glass before falling through, sending the Glacier fans in attendance into hysteria. 

Grace Gall led the Bravettes with 17 points and Sami finished with 12. Allie Krueger also reached double-figures, scoring 11 for the Wolfpack. 

The boys matchup wasn’t as close as the Wolfpack pulled away in the second half to sweep the crosstown matchup 60-49.   

The pack had a balanced attack as three different players scored double digits, led by Cooper Pelc and Asher Knopik both scoring 13 each. 

Lyric Ersland finished with 12 for the Braves after scoring 35 in the last matchup and Korbin Eaton added 10. This was the only matchup for both teams this week. 

Moving on to wrestling, divisionals started this week with Flathead and Glacier both having multiple champions.  

Flathead boys tied a school record with 26 wrestlers earning a berth in Billings out of 27 who competed and the  Bravettes added 17 on their way to a pair of team titles.  

The Brave Brawlers finished with 332.5 points, ahead of Butte and Missoula Sentinel.  Five Braves brought home individual championships: 

Kellen Downing at 118 pounds, Diesel Thompson at 126, Hunter Arriaga at 132, Daniel Evert at 138 and Loki Bigras at 175. 

Bigras claimed the title over teammate Clifford Nance. 

Glacier finished fifth in the team standings with 155.5 points but did see a trio of divisional champions. Jerin Coles (150) downing Flathead’s Dane Lake with a technical fall.  

Brother Niko Coles (165) beating the Brawlers’ Lane Chivers in a 7-3 decision. 

On the girls side, Ten Bravettes reached the championship round and three claimed titles. 

Juliette Cuevas defeated Flathead teammate Danica Hennell at 105, Kiera Lackey picked up the win over Big Sky’s Skadi Smith and Aspen Smart downed Rylee Radcliffe of Butte. 

Glacier also saw three champions as Katelyn Sphuler defeated Butte’s Peyton Liva, Brooke Yeadon pinned Flathead’s Lillian La Notte and Kaura Coles downed Flathead’s Bella Downing. 

For Class A wrestling, Columbia Falls had 12 state qualifiers, led by divisional champs Crump and 157-pounder Dylan Delorme, who pinned Dillon’s Tucker Crowe in just 49 seconds in the final. 

Three more MatCats were runners-up: Octavius Christianson (126), Blaise Cronk and Winslow Peters (175). 

Whitefish’s lone wrestler, Taylor Dorvall, won the 130-pound bracket. Bigfork’s top finisher was Ava Larsen, who was fourth at 100 pounds. 

Moving on to Class A hoops, Allie Shors scored 14 points, Yoli Krastev chipped in 11 and the Whitefish Bulldogs rallied past Polson 46-43 in a Northwest A girls basketball game Thursday.    

For the boys, Cooper Dudley scored 20 points, eight coming during a 24-12 second-quarter surge that carried Whitefish to a 58-48 win over Polson.  

Over at Bigfork, Alex Ochs hit two 3-pointers and scored 15 points to lead three Bigfork players in double figures, and the Vikings crushed Libby 58-30 Thursday. Treker Hickey hit three 3-pointers on the way to 12 points for the Vikings and Austin Savik had 11 points, nine in the second half.   

Saturday, Jace Hill and Reggie Sapa scored 12 points apiece and Columbia Falls rallied past upset-minded Bigfork 52-46. Grady Hutton and Bjorn Pederson added seven points with Hutton’s all coming in the 4th quarter. had all his points in the fourth quarter.  The Wildcats outscored the Vikings 13-5 in the final frame. 

Bigfork girls continued rolling with a 60-17 win over Libby on Thursday. Braeden Gunlock scored 20 points and Paeten Gunlock hit three 3-pointers on the way to 17 as Bigfork cruised to the victory.  

Saturday, Braeden Gunlock poured in 36 points, including three 3-pointers, in Bigfork's 75-49 win over Columbia Falls. Emalee Alton led the Wildkats with 12 points. Onnika Lawrence hit two of three 3-pointers in the fourth quarter and finished with 10. 

Friday night, Taryn Borgen scored 14 points, including four 3-pointers and Columbia Falls completed a home sweep of the Ronan Chiefs in a 50-40 win. Borgen was the only Wildkat  to reach double digits, with Maddy Barker finishing with nine. 

Also on Friday, Bjorn Pedersen scored 12 of his game-high 19 points in the first half and the Columbia Falls Wildcats controlled the game for a win over the Ronan Chiefs 57-37. Cooper Ross scored 12 points for Columbia Falls, all of them coming from beyond the arc. 

The Wildcats defense stifled the Chiefs, as Tayen Edmo was the only Chiefs player to reach double-figures with 10 points. 

As I mentioned before, no swimming this week as they get ready for state so that is going to wrap up this week’s highlights. 

I want to thank our sponsor Corwin Motors and be sure to tune in next week as wrestling and swimming both take the stage at state in which should be an exciting week. Thank you for tuning in, I am Josh Amick, and I will see you all next week on Keeping Score.  

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