Vals knocked out of state tourney in 2 games

It wasn't quite the trip to the state tournament that the Bigfork girls basketball team had planned. Their two-and-out performance was a painful memory of last year's state tournament, but just the fact that the Valkyries made it to the Butte Civic Center last week was more success than some thought the team would have accomplished when the season started.

"It didn't seem like many people had a lot of faith in us at the beginning of the season and didn't think we'd do this well," said sophomore guard Mallery Knoll. "We definitely proved them wrong."

Senior forward Roxy Thurman said she even had her doubts at the beginning.

"We started out a little rocky," she said. "To be honest, I didn't think we'd do as well as we did. I hoped we would, obviously. I think we definitely surprised some people."

The girls program lost five seniors to graduation last year and dealt with low numbers this season, but still took second place at the divisional tournament and made it to state for the third year in a row.

First year girls basketball coach Mark Hansen looked past that and saw something more in his team.

"When we first started meeting this summer I was encouraged that we would do well," he said. "Just based on how hard the girls worked and the senior leadership we had, I thought that we'd be able to place at state. I'm not disappointed in that. We talked about the energy it would take and the attitude, and I thought they did a good job with that."

For their first game of the state tournament the Bigfork girls were matched up with the number one seeded team from the Southwest Conference, Anaconda, who eventually went on to win the state title for the second year in a row, and lost 74-45 Thursday night.

"The loss to Anaconda wasn't a lack of effort," Hansen said. "We just didn't match up with their shooting and when you're playing a team that puts threes in all game, it's hard to keep up."

The Vals kept up in the first quarter and trailed just 16-14. But Bigfork scored just seven points in the second quarter and trailed the Copperheads 36-21 at the half.

Bigfork started shooting better in the third with six players scoring a combined 13 points. But they allowed Anaconda to extend their lead by putting up another 16 points. The Vals added 11 points to their side of the board in the last quarter, but the Copperheads scored twice that many.

"We stuck with them at first, but they kept us running and we kept making mistakes and they like to play off that," Thurman said. "We didn't really play our game. We got into a running game with them and we lost it."

Although Bigfork outmatched Anaconda in height, they were nowhere near as aggressive as the Copperheads. Bigfork's poor shooting and ball handling hurt them as well. The Vals had 27 turnovers and allowed Anaconda to steal the ball 15 times. Bigfork shot just 33 percent from the field, but shot 57 percent from the line. Anaconda shot 47 percent from the field and made 10 3-pointers.

"We just couldn't get it together," Knoll said. "It seemed like we were just so slow. We just weren't defending the three-point line and they seemed to make every shot they took. It felt like we were all just slower than we usually are. We should've been able to keep up with them."

Thurman led the Vals with 12 points. She also grabbed seven rebounds and made two assists and two steals. Caitlin Charlebois was next with eight points, after putting in a 3-point shot in the first and fourth quarters. Kailey Fierro led Bigfork in rebounding with eight and she scored seven points, made three assists and two blocks.

After losing in the first round, Bigfork moved into the consolation bracket where they took on Belgrade, who was the number one seed from the Central Conference. The Vals found themselves in a back-and-forth battle with the Panthers Friday afternoon, which they ultimately lost, 49-47.

"I felt like we came out and competed really hard," Hansen said. "I wasn't worried they wouldn't play hard after losing to Anaconda. That's just not in their character. That was the first time all season that we lost two in a row. We always come off a loss and play really hard."

Sloppy shooting by both teams made it anyone's game with the teams exchanging the lead several times. Bigfork shot 37.5 percent from the field and Belgrade had a 28.3 percent success rate.

"We had way too many turnovers, but I give credit to Belgrade for that," Hansen said. "They really came into our offense and did a good job of getting the ball away from us."

Bigfork had 31 turnovers and caused just 18 for Belgrade.

"We couldn't just take care of the ball like we have been," Knoll said. "The last few games before state we were down to only six turnovers and then we had 31."

Bigfork got off to a strong start with a 8-0 lead in the first four minutes with Thurman and Charlebois leading the way with 3-pointers. Belgrade finally started getting some shots in and by the end of the first quarter had narrowed the Vals' lead to 12-11.

Bigfork made a 6-0 run at the start of the second quarter led by Fierro, who scored four in the opening minutes of the quarter. But Belgrade took advantage of Bigfork's missed shots that followed, and tied the game up at 17 with 2:38 left to play in the first half. Belgrade led by one at the break.

Both teams made small runs in the third as they exchanged leads, but Bigfork's Signa McLeod put in two back-to-back shots just before the buzzer to give the Vals a 36-35 at the end of the third quarter.

For the fourth quarter in a row, Bigfork was first to score and again, Belgrade fought back. The Panthers sunk two free throws then stole the ball from Bigfork and scored two more, then stole the ball on Bigfork's very next possession and shot again, but missed. Thurman grabbed the rebound, but Belgrade stole the ball for the third time in a row and scored another two points to take a 41-40 lead with 5:45 remaining. Thurman got the lead back for the Vals after making a pair of free throws.

Missed shots from both teams kept anyone from scoring until the last 12 seconds of the game when Belgrade's Corie Smith put in the first of her two foul shots. Smith missed the second shot and Bigfork fouled again trying to grab the rebound. Belgrade missed both the shots and as both team's scrambled for the ball Bigfork fouled again just before the buzzer. Smith was sent to the line again, where she made another foul shot to seal the win for the Panthers and end the Vals' season.

"We let that game go and we shouldn't have," Thurman said. "We had a lot of opportunities that we missed. We just sat back more than we should have."

Thurman led the Vals in scoring with 18 points, nine of which she scored in the third. She grabbed eight rebounds and made two steals. Charlebois was three-for-four from the line and scored a total of eight points. Knoll scored eight points as well, all from the field, and grabbed nine boards and made four assists. Fierro led Bigfork in rebounding with 12 and she had four blocks. Quinci Paine pitched in defensively with eight rebounds and two steals.

The loss ends Bigfork's season with a 15-8 record.

"I think they were disappointed not so much in the game, but just that the season was over because they lost," Hansen said. "They wanted to continue to go on and play together. They are a really close group of girls and they really enjoy playing together."

The end of the season also marks the end of the four seniors on the team's high school basketball careers. The Vals will lose Thurman, McLeod, Quindee Averill and Ariana Shults to graduation.

"They were a strong group of seniors," Hansen said. "They brought a lot of great leadership, each in their own way. That sort of leadership is hard to replace. Only time will tell."

As for the rest of the team, Hansen is already looking to next season.

"We're going to have to get into the weight room," Hansen said. "I think we saw at state that we aren't quite as physical as we need to be. We'll have to get back to working on our ball handling too. I talked to the girls about moving to Class B next year and told them that it doesn't mean it's going to be easy."