Lady Bulldogs second-half rally comes up short in Polson

Whitefish came back in the second half to erase a deficit of 12 points, but the comeback was stopped short as Polson took the win 45-40.

Early in the fourth quarter, Bulldog Bailey Smith knocked down the go-ahead shot to put Whitefish up 32-31 after trailing the entire game. Smith’s shot capped a 12-0 run by Whitefish. From there it was back and forth and the Lady Pirates were able to swish free throws while Whitefish’s shots rattled out in the closing minutes.

Whitefish head coach Bob Bolam says although the first half was sloppy, he was pleased to see the girls fight hard to get back into the game.

“It was nice to see us after a really not good first half come back, and fight back in the third quarter and early fourth quarter to tie it up and even go ahead,” he said. “I was glad to see us have that fight in us to do that.”

Smith and Whitefish senior Erin Wilde both led the Bulldogs in scoring with 16 points each. Smith hit two 3-pointers in the game; Wilde had one from beyond the arc as well.

The game in Polson was Whitefish’s first game back after a long 2 weeks off with the holiday break. Bolam says his team looked out of sync and he hopes getting back on the court will help the girls to play more as a team in the weeks coming up.

Whitefish was also supposed to play Browning on Friday but the game was canceled due to a winter weather warning in northwest Montana.

The Lady Bulldogs are gearing up to travel to Libby on Friday and then face cross-county rival Wildkats on Saturday in Columbia Falls. Game time in Libby is 7 p.m. and the game against Columbia Falls is 4 p.m.

Polson 45, Whitefish 40

Whitefish 9 8 12 11 – 40

Polson 12 14 5 14 – 45

WHITEFISH – Bailey Smith 16, Erin Wilde 16, Rya Hirsh 2, Hailey Ells 2, Jude Perry 2, Alivia Ingold 1, Ainsley Scott 1,

POLSON – Jazlyn Dalbey 14, Julia Barnard 12, Jaivin BadBear 9, Ashtyn Wagner 3, Grace Simonich 5, Ilysia Adams, 2