Girls' hopes hinge on Polson game

The Columbia Falls girls basketball team's season could come down to one game this Friday. They face Polson at 4 p.m. in a game that will likely see the winner head off to the state tournament in Butte next month.

"This is the position we want to be in," coach Cary Finberg said. "The winner of this game has a great chance to go (to state)."

The Wildkats have made significant strides since the season started.

"Defensively, we made a huge improvement from the start of the year," Finberg said. "Our young kids have grown up a ton."

The Kats need to limit their turnovers and slow down the Pirates' Riley Kenney, who averages 20 points and 10 rebounds a game.

The Kats have lost twice to Polson this season, but both games have been close. Polson beat the Kats 59-57 in overtime in Columbia Falls earlier this year. A last-second three-pointer by Ciera Finberg hit the front of the rim.

In Polson, the Pirates beat the Kats by nine, but Finberg said overall, the girls played a better game.

The Wildkats are coming off a three-game winning streak.

On Feb. 16, they easily beat Libby at home 53-21 to cap off the regular season with a 7-11 overall record and a 4-4 conference record.

Against Libby, the girls shot out to a 17-4 lead, but Libby cut the margin to eight by the end of the second quarter.

The Kats had a nice third quarter with 18 points to take the game completely over.

The Kats were led by Hope Burlage with 17 and Cortney White with 12. Burlage also had 13 rebounds and White had seven.

Haley Belgarde had six points and six rebounds, Ciera Finberg had seven points and two assists, and Winter Kemppainen had six points and six rebounds.

The girls seem to be gelling as a team at just the right time, playing solid defense and dominating the offensive glass.

They had 19 offensive rebounds to Libby's nine.