Vals knock off Bulldogs, Chiefs

The Bigfork varsity Vals swept conference opponents Whitefish and Ronan last week to bring their record to 5-2 overall and 2-0 in conference.

On Saturday the girls hosted Ronan, and beat them 66-44. The Vals took the lead from the beginning and refused to give it up. They outscored the Maidens 15 to 10 in the first quarter, 13 to 11 in the second, 16 to 14 in the third and 18 to nine in the fourth.

“We were able to take advantage of our quickness against them,” said Bigfork girls basketball head coach Mark Hansen.

Roxy Thurman led the Vals with 17 points, including a 3-point shot, seven rebounds, eight steals and three assists. Quinci Paine accumulated nine points in the first half, and had a total of 13 by the end of the game. Paine also made five of her six shots from the free-throw line and grabbed seven rebounds. Kailey Fierro led the team in rebounds with nine and contributed five points. Taylor Peck had six points, including a 3-pointer. Caitlin Charlebois had five points, most of which came from her free-throw shooting, having gone three-for-four from the line. Ariana Shults had three assists and two points.

“We fouled too much trying to be aggressive and block out,” Hansen said. “We need to learn to be aggressive without fouling. We sent them to the line about 30 times. That was about the only downfall I saw. They fought hard and did well defensively.”

Thursday night the Vals traveled to Whitefish, where they had a slow start, but ultimately came away with the win, 56-44.

Bigfork was down 14-7 at the end of the first quarter. Although they outscored the Lady Bulldogs 10-8 in the second quarter, they still trailed 22-17 at the half.

“Whitefish had a great start,” Hansen said. “They were the aggressor in the first half. It put us back on our heels. In the second half we got some easier shots and started pushing the ball better.”

The Vals kept fighting in the second half, putting up 14 points to Whitefish’s 13 in the quarter, and 25 points in the fourth while holding their opponents to just nine. The fourth quarter run was a result of excessive fouling by Whitefish, which gave the Vals a total of 20 foul shots in the final quarter, 14 of which Bigfork put in.

Thurman had a big fourth quarter herself, scoring seven of her 15 points, which included two 3-pointers. Thurman also had three steals. Mallery Knoll and Taylor Peck each contributed 10 points. Peck’s points included a 3-pointer and Knoll also helped the team out by making three steals. Fierro again led the team in rebounds with nine, and also had three blocks. Offensively, she made five of her six shots from the free-throw line, and scored a total of seven points for the Vals. Charlebois was perfect from the line, putting in all four of her foul shots, and sunk a 3-pointer.

As a team the Vals made 24 of their 35 free-throw attempts.

“That’s a great improvement from what we’ve been doing,” Hansen said.

The Vals learned a few lessons from the Whitefish game that they were able to apply to their game later in the week against Ronan.

“We talked on Friday about coming out of the gate and being more focused,” Hansen said. “The girls do well when they fall behind. They turn the switch on and they are able to make a comeback, but we need to work on not getting behind. Our saving grace has been our half court trap, but we still need to work on our man-to-man.”

The Vals host Flathead today, Jan. 22, and travel to Libby on Saturday, Jan. 24.

“This week we just need to work on our execution and taking better care of the ball,” Hansen said.