Girls knock off Vals in OT
Cristal Jones photo Alyssa Ladenburg grabs a steal against Bigfork.
By CHRIS PETERSON, Hungry Horse News
The Columbia Falls girls basketball team got back on track in a big way last week, downing conference leader Bigfork in overtime 58-53 Thursday and then thumping Ronan away Saturday 53-24.
But on Tuesday, they lost to Libby, 42-41, which put them back into second place.
The girls are 7-2 in conference, 9-6 overall.
Top scorer against the Vals was Alyssa Ladenburg with 15. But it was Mary Nolan's trey just shy of three minutes in overtime that was huge for the girls, putting them up for good.
The game was tied most of the contest and it looked like the final outcome would come down to who had the last possession, as the Kats led by only one point at the half.
The see-saw battle came down to the closing seconds, but neither team could make a shot. The Kats pressed relentlessly throughout the game, causing the Vals to cough the ball up 23 times. The Kats also shot pretty well from the line, making 23 of 33 free throw attempts. If they had shot slightly better from the charity stripe, they would have won it outright in regulation.
Bigfork, meanwhile, was 10 of 21 from the line.
The girls also did it without one of their top players. Beth Karper tore her ACL ligament against Flathead and is out for the season.
Rounding out the scoring was Amber Lampman, 12, Jessica Boyer and Callie Spencer had 10 apiece and Sam Ladenburg had four.
Against Ronan, Spencer had a big night scoring 21 as the Kats rolled to victory. A. Ladenburg had seven, Jylisa Fields, three, Lampman, six, Boyer, four, Sarah Marcille, two, S. Ladenburg, seven, Cedar Smith, three.
Against Libby, Spencer had 12, Boyer, 11, Nolan 10, S. Ladenburg, four, A. Ladenburg, two, Lampman had two.
A line score for the Libby game wasn't immediately available.
The Kats play Whitefish Friday away at 8 p.m. then round out the regular season next week traveling to Polson Feb 9 and playing Eureka at home Feb. 10. Game time is 6:30 p.m.
C. Falls, 58, Bigfork, 53
Bigfork 15 13 13 9 3 - 53
Columbia Falls 12 17 11 10 8 - 58
Columbia Falls, 53, Ronan, 24
Columbia Falls 8 15 14 16 - 53
Ronan 5 2 13 4 - 24