Lady Bulldogs narrowly miss divisionals after dropping play-in game to Polson

The Whitefish girls basketball team wrapped up its season with a heartbreaking loss to Polson Friday night.

In a Northwest A divisional play-in game, a must-win situation in order to advance to the Western A Divisional Tournament, Whitefish lost to the Lady Pirates 52-46. The game came down to the final seconds, but Polson maintained the lead by hitting free throws down the stretch.

Whitefish senior Erin Wilde led with a game-high 17 points and Ainsley Scott added 11 while Taylor Means had 9 points. For Polson, four players finished in double figures with Lexi Wirz scoring 13 points, Turquoise Pierre and Aeranna Burke each had 11, and McKenna Hanson scored 10 points in the game.

The matchup was a close back-and-forth battle throughout all four quarters, but Polson maintained a slight lead throughout the game. Whitefish would cut the deficit to just a couple points, and then the Pirates would hit their next shots.

At the half Polson had a 19-13 lead heading into the locker room. The Bulldogs had a much more potent third quarter offensively, but Polson remained in the lead. Early in the fourth quarter Whitefish’s Ainsley Scott completed a three-point play when she scored a layup and got a foul called as well. She would score the next two baskets for Whitefish as well and cut the Polson advantage to just 3 points, 36-33.

Whitefish and Polson exchanged baskets in the fourth quarter and Whitefish’s Erin Wilde kept the Bulldogs hopes alive when she hit a 3-pointer with 3 minutes remaining. However as the Dogs had to begin fouling to preserve the game clock, the Lady Pirates made most of their free throws in the final minutes which made a Bulldog comeback nearly impossible.

Whitefish ended its season with a 7-11 overall record; Polson, with a 5-14 record, advanced to the Western A divisionals as the No. 4 seed.

The Lady Bulldogs entered this year with most players having very little varsity court time besides two seniors, Means and Wilde. Coach Bob Bolam from the beginning believed this to be a learning year for his team, and in the end Whitefish showed quite a bit of improvement from week one to the close game with Polson.

Whitefish also was missing one of its leading scorers, sophomore Bailey Smith, for most of the second half of the season.

Polson 10 9 14 19 - 52

Whitefish 8 5 13 20 - 46

POLSON — Lexi Wirz 13, Turquoise Pierre 11, Aeranna Burke 11, McKenna Hanson 10, Grace Simonich 7.

WHITEFISH — Erin Wilde 17, Ainsley Scott 11, Taylor Means 9, Hailey Ells 5, Alivia Ingold 2.