JV, freshman girls each nab win

The Bigfork High School junior varsity and freshman girls basketball teams grabbed a pair of wins on Saturday on the road against Libby High School, but lost to Flathead High School at home on Thursday.

The JV Vals trailed Libby by one at the end of the first quarter, but had the game tied up at 13 by half time. Bigfork came out strong in the second half, outscoring the Lady Loggers 13 to two in the third and 11 to four in the fourth to take the 37-19 victory.

“This was one of the best games the girls have played so far,” said Bigfork junior varsity girls basketball coach Mandy Williams. “It was a total team effort.”

Melissa VanDerveer and Lila Cenis led Bigfork in scoring with 14 and 12, respectively, and Kristen Woll contributed six.

“Lila played amazing; hustling and being a strong post presence,” Williams said. “Kristen had seven rebounds and seven assists, and even though McKinze Shults didn’t score she set the tone for how to play with her rebounding and physical play.”

Bigfork’s freshman girls took out Libby 40-11, having shut out the Lady Loggers in both the first and last periods.

The Vals led 9-5 at the end of the first half, and sealed the win by putting up 18 points in the third and 22 in the fourth.

VanDerveer led the freshman team in scoring as well, putting up 11 points. Shults and Heather Lehrman contributed nine an six, respectively.

“The girls got off to a slow start, but came alive in the second half and executed their offense,” said Bigfork freshman girls basketball coach Jim Epperly.  “They also picked up their defense and played great team ball.”

The JV and freshman teams also had similar results in their games against Flathead, but neither game against the Class AA school faired well for Bigfork. This could be the result of many of the girls pulling double-duty, playing five quarters spread over the two games. Bigfork ended both the freshman and JV game with 32 points while Flathead’s JV team won by 17 and their freshman team beat Bigfork by 14.

In the JV game Bigfork started out ahead, outscoring the Bravettes 10-5 in the first quarter. However, the second quarter brought a reversal of roles as Flathead put up 12 points and held Bigfork to just three. Flathead kept the points flowing and outscored Bigfork 32-19 in the second half.

“I thought their defense was pretty good at times,” Williams said. “We didn’t box out like we should have and that hurt us. We didn’t execute as well as we have been either. We had a few shining moments, but we didn’t play our best.”

 Kate Lamm led the Vals with 10 points, six of which she picked up in the third.  

“Kate Lamm played a great game,” Williams said. “She works so hard and it is paying off. She is really improving and she is a delight to coach. She really gives everything she has.”

Charlebois contributed eight points in the form of two 3-pointers and two free-throws, which she made in her only trip to the foul line. Woll added six points, four of which she accumulated in the fourth quarter.

“No matter if we are down by 20 or up by 20 these girls play hard and hustle the whole game,” Williams said.

In the freshman game the Vals led 14-10 at the half, but allowed Flathead to put up 20 points in the third quarter and gave away the lead as they scored only 12. Flathead dominated the fourth quarter as well, putting up 16 and holding Bigfork to six.

“I think we just kind of ran out of gas in the fourth quarter,” Epperly said. “I think we need to work on our full-court man defense and that showed as the game went along. We played well at times, but it was their depth and our press breaker that cost us the game. We hung in there for most of the game though.

Lamm was the leading scorer for Bigfork in the freshman game as well, putting up eight points in just two quarters of play.

“This was Kate’s best game of the year,” Epperly said. “She had a great night. She played well on JV too. We were pretty stoked about that. She put the ball in the hole all night.”

Shults contributed six points, all of which she scored in the second half, and VanDerveer had six as well.