Columbia Falls sweeps Cat-Dog games

Columbia Falls is firmly in first place of the Northwest A Conference after their Cat-Dog victory over Whitefish by a score of 58-45 on Friday, Feb. 2. The Wildcats — winners of eight straight — improved to 8-1 in conference play and 10-5 overall.

“During our winning streak, we’ve been getting healthy and getting our basketball legs under us,” Columbia Falls Head Coach Chris Finberg said. “A lot of our guys played football that made that run to the state championship game. Some guys we’re banged up from that season, so we’re now getting healthy and playing good basketball.”

Jace Hill scored 20 for the Wildcats in the victory. Columbia Falls was able to jump out to a 20-10 lead in the first quarter thanks to two three-pointers by Alihn Anderson. After going into halftime with a 31-23 lead and extended that advantage by six points in the third quarter.

Cody Schweikert added 14 points and Anderson finished with 11.

“This past week, we had three conference wins, which was huge,” Finberg said. “Two of them were on the road, so hopefully we can finish strong with Polson, Browning and Libby coming up. I could see the matchup against Browning be for the regular season conference championship.”

At Whitefish

COLUMBIA FALLS 58, WHITEFISH 45 

C-Falls - 20 - 11 - 16 - 11 - 58

Whitefish - 10 - 13 - 10 - 12 - 45

COLUMBIA FALLS SCORING - Jace Hill 20, Cody Schweikert 14, Alihn Anderson 11, Dayne Tu 5, Easton Brooks 5, Chance Miller 2, Mark Robison 1 

C-Falls comes back in Cat-Dog game

Whitefish had a 28-21 lead in the first half, but Columbia Falls battled back for the 50-38 Northwest A victory on Tuesday, Jan. 30. A big part of that was Cody Schweikert scoring 15 of his 23 points in the second half.

The Bulldogs were held to 10 points in the second half, and Columbia Falls took the lead in the third quarter thanks to a 14-5 run. 

“It all starts and stops with defense, when we’re locked in you can see those 10-0 runs,” Finberg said. “Our defense allows us to get out in transition and get a bit of momentum going.”

Mason Kelch led the Bulldogs with 20 points. 

At Columbia Falls

COLUMBIA FALLS 50, WHITEFISH 38

Whitefish - 12 - 16 - 5 - 5 - 38

C-Falls - 11 - 10 - 14 - 15 - 50

COLUMBIA FALLS SCORING - Cody Schweikert 23, Mark Robison 7, Easton Brooks 6, Jace Hill 5, Dane Tu 4, Align Anderson 3, Reggie Sapa 2

Whitefish Takes Down Ronan

Whitefish outscored Ronan by 12 points in the second quarter on its way to a 71-56 Northwest A Conference victory on Thursday, February 1.

CJ Threw led the Bulldogs with 19 points, while Carson Krack had 15.

Ronan led 16-11 after one quarter, but Whitefish outscored the Chiefs 24-12 in the second quarter for the 35-28 halftime lead. After adding two points to their lead in the third, Whitefish kept the pressure up and outscored Ronan by six points in the final stanza.

Mason Kelch also reached double-digits for the Bulldogs, notching 12. 

At Whitefish

WHITEFISH 71, RONAN 56

Ronan - 16 - 12 - 10 - 18 - 56

W-Fish - 11 - 24 - 12 - 24 - 71

WHITEFISH SCORING - CJ Threw 19, Carson Krack 15, Carson Gulick 14, Mason Kelch 12, Mason Genovese 6, Scotty Dalen 5

Whitefish Takes Down Libby On The Road

Mason Kelch scored 26 as Whitefish fended off a late Libby surge for a 56-55 Northwest A Conference victory on Monday, January 29 in the Loggers’ home gym.

While Libby is winless in conference play, they played tough and battled back from an early 21-12 Bulldog advantage in the first quarter. Whitefish led 37-31 at halftime. The Bulldogs did increase their lead back to nine points in the third quarter, but Libby went on a 15-7 run in the final stanza but their comeback fell short.

Carson Krack added 12 points to Whitefish’s efforts. 

At Libby

WHITEFISH 56, LIBBY 55

Whitefish - 21 - 16 - 12 - 7 - 56

Libby - 12 - 19 - 9 - 15 - 55

WHITEFISH SCORING - Mason Kelch 26, Carson Krack 12, CJ Thew 5, Scotty Dalen 4, Mason Genovese 3