Keeping Score: State tournament recap with Bigfork's run, Columbia Falls' record and Ronan's fight to the finish

Welcome everybody to the Keeping Score podcast presented by Corwin Motors. This week we have short episode for you as the basketball season comes to an end over the weekend with the state tournament wrapping up, so let’s get right into this week’s highlights you might have missed.  

The Bigfork girls were looking to get back into the championship game this year again but unfortunately, they didn’t reach the podium as they fell to the Havre Blue Ponies 48-31 for the third-place trophy at the State A girls basketball tournament at First Interstate Arena on Saturday.   

Bigfork, which ended up 21-5 on the season, fell behind 15-4 early and trailed 21-8 at halftime. Senior Braeden Gunlock had 11 points and nine rebounds in her final high school game, but the Vals went over 11 minutes without scoring in the first half and shot just 19 percent from the floor.   

They were able to reach the third-place game with an earlier 57-55 win over Lewistown. Braeden once again led the way scoring 30 points, including two tie-breaking free throws with 2 seconds left, and grabbed 14 rebounds as the Vals ousted Lewistown.

In an earlier matchup 55-52 win over Lockwood. In this win Paeten led the team with 22 points, Braeden added 20 but it was Keni Wade’s 3-pointer with less than two minutes in the game that put this one out of reach. 

The Valkyries they had an uphill battle all weekend at the Class A state tournament as they lost their opener against Havre 49-37. Braeden Gunlock scored 15 points and sister Paeten added 11 but the team struggled to score and didn’t get closer than nine in the second half. 

Nevertheless, it was a great season for the Valkyries in just their second season in Class A and Braeden Gunlock’s historical high school career comes to an end. Good luck to her as she continues her basketball career at BYU and congratulations to Bigfork on another great year. 

For Columbia Falls, they dropped both of their games in the state tournament, losing their opener to defending champion Billings Central before a historic effort from Kierra Kemppainen had the Wildkats almost completing a comeback against Frenchtown. 

Kierra finished the game with 9 3-pointers made which what most believe is a Class A record for a single game. Unfortunately, this wasn’t enough as they dropped the loser-out game to the Brons 67-59. Taryn Borgen finished with 11 but in the end the Kats struggled to get late game rebounds which led to second chance opportunities. 

Columbia Falls first game, The Rams scored the first nine points, gave up two Wildkat free throws, then scored the next 15 as Billings Central won easily 70-35. The Kats didn’t get a field goal until Kierra Kemppainen’s three at 6:00 of the second quarter to cut the gap to 27-7.  

Taryn Borgen and Emalee Alton scored eight each for the Wildkats as they finished the season 12-12. Congratulations to Columbia Falls on a great year as well. 

Moving over to the boys side of the bracket, Ronan almost made it to the third-place game where they lost to Billings Central 45-40. Wade Qualtier led all scorers with 14 points for the Chiefs but the Rams defense was too much to overcome as they forced Ronan into 10 turnovers in the second half after holding a 5-point lead at the break. 

The Chiefs were able to make it to the third-place game because of win over Browning earlier in the day 76-63 and beat East Helena 73-67. 

In their battle with Browning, senior Tayen Edmo led five Chiefs in double figures with 19 points, and Ronan withstood every push by Browning in a full-court battle.   

Wade Qualtier and fellow senior Chad Higgins had 10 points each for Ronan with Higgins adding nine rebounds. Royce Mad Plume knocked down a pair of 3-pointers and scored 15 points to lead Browning, which ended up 15-8.  

Even though they came up just short of the podium, congratulations to Ronan on a great season as well. 

Before facing Ronan in the loser-out game, Browning picked up a win on Thursday 49-44 over Glendive but lost to Lockwood 56-47 in the semifinals. Lockwood ran out to a 28-10 and held off the Browning comeback to get to the title game. 

Noah Butterfly led Browning with 11 points, Jude Reevis added 10 but the trademark burst by the Runnin’ Indians never came. Congratulations to Browning on a great season. 

In case you might have missed it in the paper or haven’t seen it online. Skyview boys beat Billings West 48-46 in the Class AA championship, while the girls winner was Gallatin over Billings West 66-63 in overtime. 

For Class A, Dillon boys beat Lockwood 51-46 for their state championship and the Dillon girls lost by 2-points in a tough battle with Billings Central 54-52 to finish in second. 

For a full list of all the high school sports scores we did post them in the paper over the weekend or be sure to check out the Daily Inter Lake website where do we a more through dive into what happened with each game of the Valley’s local teams. 

That is going to wrap up this week’s edition of the Keeping Score podcast presented by Corwin Motors as well as wrap up the winter sports season. The podcast will be taking the next few weeks off as we prepare for the spring season so we will see you all then when that season begins, until then take care. 

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