Valkyries stay strong on road

By FAITH MOLDAN - Bigfork Eagle

Despite an early lead by Whitefish and a late surge from Ronan, the Bigfork Valkyries finished last week still perfect in the Northwest A Conference. Bigfork beat Whitefish 55-41 and topped Ronan 48-40.

The Lady Bulldogs led 9-0 early on their home court and maintained the lead through a little more than half of the second quarter. Bigfork, who defeated Whitefish 55-41, took the lead from the Bulldogs with a make by Hattie Bowen. Her field goal put the Vals ahead 21-19. Bowen finished the Jan. 8 game with 10 points.

"Whitefish started off well," Bigfork coach Nate Hammond said. "They held us scoreless for about a two-minute stretch."

The Lady Bulldogs led 14-5 at one point in the first quarter before the Vals outscored them with a 14-3 run that straddled the end of the first quarter and start of the second. The Vals led 19-15 after that scoring run.

Kailey Fierro added to the Vals comeback as well. She scored 12 points off the bench for the Vals in the game. Eight of Fierro's points came consecutively in the first half, as the Vals put together a run of their own.

"There are a lot of runs in the game of basketball," Hammond said. "You have to be able to weather it and put your own run on."

Alyssa Fierro and Roxy Thurman also scored in double digits. The elder Fierro tallied 11 points and Thurman scored 12. Jaylee Haveman and Avery Vogel rounded out the Valkyrie scoring with eight and two, respectively. Vogel also recorded eight assists in the game.

The Ronan Maidens staged a small comeback late in the game Saturday, Jan. 12. Bigfork led 24-14 at halftime and kept the lead as the fourth quarter started with the score 35-21. Ahead 41-24, the Vals' lead slipped and the Maidens outscored the Vals in the fourth quarter 19-13.

Bigfork's troubles came at the free-throw line in Ronan. The Vals were 8-for-24 at the line.

"We were a little out of sync," Hammond said. "We really rebounded well, we just weren't able to make a lot of shots and couldn't get into a flow because of the misses."

The Vals grabbed a team-high 47 rebounds against the Maidens. Alyssa Fierro pulled down 15 of those to give her a double-double. She scored 16 points in the game and blocked seven shots. Bowen had eight boards. Thurman recorded eight steals.

"That's a ton," Hammond said of the Vals' rebounding.

Defense and rebounding will be key for the Vals' only conference matchup this week against Libby. Bigfork travels to Libby today, Jan. 17, before playing Flathead on the road Saturday.

"It can be hard to play in Libby," Hammond said. "They've got a player who's about 50 percent of their offense. If we key in on her and shut her down we should do well. We need to play defense and be ready to go."