Freshman Vals riding 3-game winning streak, JV goes 1-2

The Bigfork High School girls junior varsity basketball team had a roller coaster week, losing to Stillwater Christian last Tuesday 51-44, beating Plains 33-17 and then losing to Mission 32-30.

Against Mission, the Vals were out in front for most of the game. But things changed in the fourth quarter when Bigfork’s leading scorer, Kristen Woll fouled out with six minutes remaining in the game, and left Bigfork without a point guard. Mission took the lead in the last 30 seconds of the game, and ultimately outscored Bigfork 17-5 in the final period.

“They played really well in the second and third,” said Bigfork’s JV girls basketball coach Mandy Williams. “We made some young mistakes and probably should have changed things up in the end. I take responsibility for not getting the girls better prepared at the end.”

Woll led the Vals with 10 points and Melissa VanDerveer added seven.

In their game against Plains the Vals were down 9-6 at the end of the first quarter, but they held the Trotters to just one point in the second while putting up nine of their own. Bigfork furthered their lead in the third posting 11 points and holding Plains to just a pair of free throws and a field goal. The Vals held onto their 26-14 lead in the fourth, by outscoring the Trotters 7-3.

“Our defense was good,” Williams said. “We’ve been talking to the girls about finishing a game. We get up and then we give the lead away in the fourth. But we had a lead in the fourth and we kept it. That was good because we haven’t been doing that the last few games.”

Woll had a game high nine points, five of which she picked up in the second quarter, and McKinze Shults contributed eight.

“Kate Lamm didn’t score for us, but she played really good defense,” Williams said. “She was an animal out there on the court.”

In their loss to Stillwater Christian the Vals had just a one-point lead at the end of the first quarter, and then allowed Stillwater to outscore them in the second and take a 27-23 lead by the end of the half. Bigfork turned things around in the third quarter and outscored their opponent 13-6, due largely to Quinci Paine’s nine point contribution. However, the Vals were unable to keep the momentum up in the fourth and scored just eight points to Stillwater’s 18.

“We didn’t take very good care of the ball,” Williams said. “We just didn’t come to play. We played well in spurts, but after that game we talked about playing all 32 minutes and they did that the next game.”

Taylor Peck was the high scorer for the game with 14, including three 3-pointers. Paine had a total of 11 and Caitlin Charlebois added five. The Vals struggled from the line, making just four of their 14 foul shots.

Bigfork’s freshman girls team has now won three games in a  row, their longest streak of the season, taking out Stillwater Christian’s JV team, 37-29, and Plains’ freshman team 29-24.

In Thursday’s home game Bigfork scored 15 points in the first half and 14 in the second half. Defensively, they allowed Plains to score five in the first, but shut them out until the fourth, when the Trotters put up 19.

“We played a really good game through the first three quarters,” said Bigfork freshman girls basketball coach Jim Epperly. “We were saving some girls for varsity in the fourth, but we hung on anyway. I was really proud of the girls for persevering the way they did.”

Melissa VanDerveer had a game high 12 points, 10 of which she put up in the second half. Heather Lehrman led the Vals in the first half, scoring all seven of her points, including a 3-pointer.

Against Stillwater, the Vals were down 19-17 at the half, but posted 11 points in the third while holding Stillwater to just two to take the lead. In the final period Bigfork scored nine, seven of which were made by VanDerveer, and Plains put up eight.

“It was one of our better games this year,” Epperly said. “In the fourth quarter we really passed the ball well. We played really well as a team.”

VanDerveer and Lehrman, who scored three 3-pointers all in the first half, led the Vals with nine points each and Sara Keenan added six.