Vals knock off Polson, lose to C-Falls
The Bigfork Valkyries ended their regular season with a 52-48 win in Polson last Friday, and although they only won by four points, it was all they needed to secure the third seed for this week’s Northwest A Divisional Tournament in Kalispell. The Vals were on the road Tuesday as well, but lost to Columbia Falls, 51-36, in a game that secured the conference championship for the Kats.
“It’s nice to go in with a win,” said Bigfork High School head girls basketball coach Mark Hansen. “It gives us our momentum back going into the tournament and it gets the taste of Columbia Falls out of our mouths.”
It wasn’t an easy victory for the Vals, though. Both teams scored 14 in the first quarter and Bigfork was held to just four points in the second while Polson scored eight. The Vals picked up their momentum in the third, scoring 13 points to Polson’s 10. Bigfork trailed the Lady Pirates by one going into the fourth, but outscored them 21-16 to take the win, despite moments in the final minutes where it looked as though Polson would take the lead back.
“The girls had a nice road win,” Hansen said. “We knocked down some shots and played hard.”
Mallery Knoll had a game high 18 points, including a 3-pointer in the first quarter. Kailey Fierro was five-for-seven from the line and scored a total of 11 points for Bigfork. She was also the Vals’ leading rebounder with seven and she made six blocks. Roxy Thurman added nine points and she had seven assists and five rebounds. Taylor Peck scored six by putting in 3-pointers in the first and fourth quarters. Quinci Paine grabbed six rebounds.
“Like I told the girls, it’s not whether we win or lose, it’s the effort we put in,” Hansen said. “They put a great effort into this game.”
The Vals didn’t show the same effort Tuesday night in Columbia Falls, and the Kats went out strong and never let up. They held a 27-11 lead at half time and then outscored Bigfork 14-3 in the third.
“We came out flat,” Hansen said. “The energy wasn’t there that we needed to compete with them that night for whatever reason. Columbia Falls came out full of energy and stuck it to us and we never recovered from that.”
The Vals made up a little ground in the fourth, putting up 22 points to the Kats’ 10, but it wasn’t enough to undo the damage.
Thurman led the Vals with 11 points including going six-for-six from the free-throw line. Peck was solid from the line as well, making five of her six shots to account for half of the 10 points she scored in Columbia Falls. Knoll contributed six.
“Columbia Falls played awfully well and we’re going to have to come up with a game plan if we meet them again to take away some of their strengths,” Hansen said.
If the Vals do meet the Kats again this year it will be at the Northwest A Divisional Tournament, which Bigfork will play their first game in tonight, Feb. 26, at 8 p.m. against sixth seeded Ronan at Glacier High School. If the Vals win they will play Libby, who is the second seed, at 8 p.m. Friday, but if they lose to Ronan they will be playing in the consolation bracket at 10:45 a.m. Saturday at Glacier. A victory against Ronan and Libby would send them to the championship game at 8 p.m. Saturday at Glacier High School.