Vals finish conference schedule undefeated

With just two games left before the District 7B Tournament, the Valkyries basketball team is at the top of its game having scored big wins over Plains, 67-22, and Troy, 66-18, last week to end their regular season undefeated in conference play; and the girls faced a tougher opponent in Class A Libby where they fell 44-41.

"The girls are working hard and playing hard every time they step onto the floor," said Mark Hansen, Bigfork High School head girls basketball coach. "That is all I have asked of them and they are doing a very good job of it."

On Saturday, the Vals used a 34-10 lead in the first half over Troy to give 12 girls playing time on Senior Night, and all but one were able to score.

"Everyone that got in there played really well," Hansen said. "The girls that usually play mostly junior varsity did a really good job for us. I was also happy for the seniors that they were able to play together and finish their high school careers out on the court together for Senior Night."

Seniors Kailey Fierro, Lila Cenis, Holly MacFarlane and Danae McCarthy were all honored at the start of the game in celebration of Senior Night.

The Vals had two 20 point quarters, the first and third, and scored 14 and 12 in the second and fourth quarters respectively. Defensively, Bigfork held the Lady Trojans scoreless until the final minute of the first quarter when they were able to score one field goal. Troy made it to eight points in the second and just five and three in the third and fourth quarters, respectively.

Taking full advantage of Senior Night, Fierro, led the Vals with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Mallery Knoll contributed eight points, six of which she put in during the first quarter to help jump-start the Vals. Knoll also grabbed seven rebounds as did Quinci Paine, who put in eight points. Taylor Peck added nine points. Caitlin Charlebois led Bigfork in assists with six and Melissa VanDerveer was the steals leader with three.

On Thursday, Feb. 3, the Vals traveled to Plains where they had a similar game experience. At least five Bigfork players scored each quarter and helped the Vals to a 19-4 lead at the end of the first quarter and 41-9 at the half. The Vals doubled up on the Trotters in the second half, scoring 26 points to their 13.

"We jumped on them early and we played good defense to hold them off," Hansen said.

This time Knoll led the Vals with 14 points and Fierro added 11, nine of which she scored in the first half. VanDerveer had a big first half as well, scoring eight of her 10 points in the first two quarters.

Cenis was the only Valkyrie to make all of her free-throw shots, three, and she put in a total of nine points. Cenis was also the leading rebounder for Bigfork with nine and Fierro grabbed eight and made three blocks. Charlebois had six steals and five assists and Peck had four of each.

Earlier in the week, the Vals ended their nine-game winning streak in Libby. Although the Vals used strong starts to capture their two wins later in the week, it was a less productive first half Tuesday, Feb. 2, in Libby that cost them the game.

"We had to play hard the whole game all the way to the end, which is a great experience for us," Hansen said.

Bigfork scored just seven points in the first quarter, five of which Paine was responsible for. Meanwhile the Lady Loggers scored 11 points led by senior Jackie Mee who put in two 3-pointers.

Six Vals contributed to the team's 10 second quarter points and scoring was similarly shared in the third quarter, in which Bigfork scored 12 points. Defensively, Bigfork held the Lady Loggers to 10 and six points in the second and third quarters, respectively.

"We just shot so poorly in the first half," Hansen said. "The girls played better in the second half and did a better job of communicating with each other."

The Vals were able to make a comeback and edge a 29-27 lead by the start of the final period, but it wasn't enough to keep Libby at bay especially with Mee's shooting skills that night. She scored 13 points in the fourth quarter, including a five-point rally in the final minute of play. Conversely, the Vals scored just 12 fourth-quarter points.

"We made some bad decisions in the mid-court, but that was my fault for not having them organized better going down the final stretch," Hansen said.

Free-throw shooting hurt Bigfork in this game as they made just 10 of their 19 shots. Three of those misses were in the fourth quarter, which had they been made would have been just enough to tie the game.

"We turned the ball over four times in a row toward the end of the fourth quarter and we missed some shots that we needed to make," Hansen said.

While Libby's leading scorer was Mee with 21 points followed by Jaime Gilden with 16, the Vals leader was Knoll with just 10 points. Paine added nine and led Bigfork in rebounding with seven. Fierro had eight points and she and Cenis each grabbed six boards. Charlebois had five steals and Knoll and VanDerveer each had four.

The Libby game was the first for Fierro since mid-December when she was suspended from the team for a school-related disciplinary action. While Hansen said he is glad to have her back, having her return to the mix posed a few initial problems.

"It was difficult for me in Libby working Kailey back into the rotation," Hansen said. "She was playing really well. That wasn't the problem. I was just used to a seven girl rotation instead of an eight. I'm already better at it now after three games. It will be helpful down the road. I just have to do a better job of working her in."

The Vals finished the regular season undefeated against teams in their district making them the District 7B Champions. They have just two games left before the district tournament in Libby Feb. 18-20.

"The girls did a nice job of getting through the season undefeated," Hansen said. "It doesn't really mean a whole lot, though, other than we can look back over the season and see some things that we did really well. We got the No. 1 seed at the district tournament for it and that will hopefully help us. It's like I told the girls Monday at practice, 'Everything starts over next week. It's a blank slate. You have to beat all those teams again if you want to be district champions.'"

Bigfork will have a bye during the first round and will play their first game of the District 7B Tournament at 1 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 19. If they win, they will advance directly to the championship game. If not, they will have to take a much longer road in the double-elimination tournament to earn one of the four spots from the district at the Western B Divisional Tournament on Feb. 24-27.

The Bigfork girls host their final home game of the season tonight, Feb. 11, in Whitefish. On Saturday the Vals travel to Ronan for a double-header with the boys' teams.