Eleven Kats score in romp over Ronan

Heading into winter break, the one thing the Columbia Falls girls basketball team wanted more than anything was a win to start the conference season.

Mission accomplished.

The Wildkats rode a stifling defense and a consistent offense to an impressive 57-23 victory over Ronan last Friday in their Northwestern A Conference opener.

The win gave the Kats a 4-2 record (1-0 in conference) heading into the break, and positions them nicely for the upcoming conference schedule.

Eleven girls scored for the Kats against Ronan, with Callie Spencer leading the way with 10. Kate Marcille added nine, Beth Karper netted seven, while Jessica Boyer and Alyssa Ladenburg each poured in six. Amber Lampman, Alona Raymond and Jessica Davis each finished with four points, while Colyne Hislop scored three.

Emily Wortman and Sam Ladenburg each scored two points to round out the scoring for the Kats.

After starting slowly, with only 10 points in the first quarter, the Kats scored 14 in the second, led by four points each from Karper and Alyssa Ladenburg.

The third quarter was even better for the girls, as they scored 20 points, led by two 3-pointers from Boyer and four points from Davis.

Defensively, the Kats were just as impressive, forcing over 30 turnovers with their half-court pressure defense, limiting the Maidens to just nine first-half points.

Only four players scored for Ronan, led by Lauryn Lynch with 15, but Spencer and Karper put enough pressure on her to limit most of her chances.

With the first part of the schedule out of the way, the Kats look to finish strongly in conference once school resumes. Last year, injuries derailed the Kats after winter break, but this year's incarnation is injury free and ready to come back after the break with vigor.

In other scores, the JV Kats beat Ronan 43-38 to move to 3-2 on the season.

The Kats were led in scoring by Alona Raymond, who finished with 12. Sarah Marcille added eight, Colyne Hislop and Cortny Westgard scored seven apiece, while Emily Wortman added five, and Alyssa Ladenburg and Amanda Folsom each scored two.

Columbia Falls 57, Ronan 23

Ronan 2 7 8 6 — 23

Columbia Falls 10 14 20 13 — 57