Lady Dogs fell Loggers at home
Lady Bulldog Jadi Walburn goes up for a shot against the Lady Loggers Friday night at the Whitefish High School gym. (Heidi Desch/Whitefish Pilot)
Surrounded by Logger defenders, Bulldog Mikenna Ells fights for the shot Friday night at the Whitefish High School gym. (Heidi Desch/Whitefish Pilot)
Bulldog Gracie Smyley drives between two Libby defenders Friday night at the Whitefish High School gym. (Heidi Desch/Whitefish Pilot)
The Lady Dogs couldn’t quite get past first-place Browning on Saturday, but they held their own.
Whitefish fell to Browning 50-48 in a tightly contested battle that extended to the very end.
Despite falling into an immediate 8-0 hole to start the game, the Lady Dogs rebounded quick and even led 23-22 at the half.
By the fourth quarter they trailed by four.
Head coach Bob Bolam said the whole game was a tightly contested battle, but his team couldn’t pull through in the final minute.
“We just rode it out pretty close back and forth to the end. We had a chance at the end to tie it up and didn’t get it done,” he said.
Gracie Smyley led her team with 17 points, while Jadi Walburn added 15 and Mikenna Ells dropped 10.
However, the team is encouraged by the way they played. “We were really excited about it after,” Bolam said. “Now we’re hoping to continue playing at that higher level.”
That game came on the heels of a big 46-18 victory over Libby on Friday.
The Lady Dogs hit seven threes in that game, with three coming from Smyley, and Walburn and Payton Kastella each adding a pair of their own.
Smyley and Walburn again led the team in scoring with 13 and 12.
This week the team will look to carry that momentum over to Columbia Falls. They face off against the Wildkats on Friday at 7:30 p.m.
Key for the team is going to be continuing the offensive barrage they’ve put on in the last two games.
Bolam said consistency on offense is going to be paramount moving forward.
“I think we just had some kids that were doing good things. Gracie and Jadi have provided us some consistent scoring these last couple weeks, and we’ve had some others step in and help. Payton had a nice game against Libby and Mikenna on Saturday. We’re getting more people scoring and our girls are getting more aggressive offensively,” he said. “We’re also playing better team defense and taking care of the ball. All those things add up, we’re just playing better basketball.”
But the first hurdle Bolam says his team will face is a mental one.
“It’s still one of those things where you have to get over the mental part. Columbia Falls has beaten us pretty badly for years. We need to go int he game feeling good about ourselves,” he said. “We’ll need to limit three point shots and take care of the ball if they pressure up. Those two things could add up to a lot of points. Hopefully we can accomplish that.”
Whitefish 23 8 7 8 - 46
Libby 6 6 2 4 - 18
WHITEFISH - Gracie Smyley 13, Jadi Walburn 12, Payton Kastella 8, Kali Brubaker 5, Taylor Means 2, Erin Wilde 2, Hope Brown 2, Emma Trieweiler 2
Whitefish 8 15 15 10 - 48
Browning 12 10 20 8 - 50
WHITEFISH – Gracie Smyley 17, Jadi Walburn 15, Mikenna Ells 10, Payton Kastella 2, Hope Brown 2, Kali Brubaker 2.
