Wildkats out of state in two despite solid effort

Columbia Falls might not have won a game at the Class A Girls State Basketball Tournament last week, but the Wildkats have a ton of hard work to show for their effort. They went to Butte with very little state tournament experience, but learned a lot in their two games.

Connecting on a dozen 3-pointers, Hamilton came alive late against C-Falls in the first round of the state tournament last Thursday at the Butte Civic Center. The Lady Broncs rallied from a 14-point deficit and edged the Wildkats 51-48 in overtime.

C-Falls fell behind Dawson County (Glendive) early in a consolation round game Friday and the young Wildkats were eliminated with a 53-40 loss to the Red Devils. The ‘Kats finished with a 13-9 overall record. Glendive went into the state tourney with a 20-0 record and was upset by Havre 38-37 in the first round.

Two other No. 1 seeds, Glendive and Belgrade, also lost their first-round games.

Anaconda won its second straight state title, beating Hamilton, 56-41, in Saturday’s championship game. In the semifinals, Hamilton topped Havre, 45-28, and Anaconda defeated Custer County (Miles City), 49-38. Glendive beat Havre 47-34 for the consolation championship.

Bigfork, the No. 2 team from the Northwestern Divisional, lost to Anaconda 74-45 in the first round and was eliminated by Belgrade, 49-47.

“It’s a good learning experience for the younger girls,” Columbia Falls head coach Dan Fairbank said after the loss to Hamilton. “The lesson really is that we can never let up defensively.”

Point guard Alyssa Ladenburg, the sole senior on the team, was the only ‘Kat who had state tournament experience.

In overtime, it was Cierra Smith who got things started with a 3-pointer for Hamilton — her seventh of the game. Then Kayla DeWit and Shay Grilley scored as C-Falls took the lead for the last time, 46-45. But the Lady Broncs scored the next six points with a field goal and four free throws to put the game away.

“When we went into overtime it was like here we go again; another important game going into overtime. Just like at divisionals,” sophomore Kayla DeWit said. “I thought we could pull it off, but we weren’t able to.”

The ‘Kats came out strong, outscoring Hamilton 12-2 in the opening period.

“We came out in the beginning really ready,” DeWit said. “We ran our offense the way we know how. You could tell we really wanted it.”

The Wildkats led 22-12 at halftime, with Kayla DeWit scoring 10 points and sister Kelsey, a junior, netting nine.

Then Kelsey DeWit and Ladenburg sparked C-Falls in the third period, combining for all 15 of the ‘Kats’ 15 points. A Ladenburg field goal gave the Wildkats a 37-23 lead.

Smith connected on four 3-pointers in the fourth quarter, though, where the Lady Broncs outscored C-Falls 17-5. Smith went into the state tournament averaging just 5 points a game.

“We ran almost a perfect game plan until the last four minutes of fourth quarter,” Fairbank said. “Our defense stopped moving and they were able to get some outside shots. We couldn’t get the kids to adjust to that.”

Hamilton took a 42-40 lead on a Smith trey with 1:10 to go in regulation, but Kayla DeWit sank two free throws to tie the game. Before that, C-Falls missed 10 of its 14 foul shots.

“We had an opportunity to put another 10 points on the board right there,” Fairbank said. “We could’ve won it in regulation if we would have made more of our shots from the line.”

Nerves got the best of the ‘Kats down the stretch.

“The girls got tighter and tighter as the game got closer and closer,” Fairbank said.

“We just didn’t execute the press very well,” Kelsey DeWit said. “We usually handle pressure very well, but we just got scared and didn’t play our game.”

The DeWit sisters both had a double double, combining for 34 points and 35 rebounds. Junior Kelsey had 19 points and 15 boards, and sophomore Kayla added 15 points and 20 rebounds. Ladenburg added 12 points, and had five assists and two steals.

Ashley Albert and Annie Schultz, Hamilton’s top two scorers, were held to a combined 17 points; Albert was 2-for-20 from the field, and Shultz was 3-for-13.

Kayla DeWit was named to the Class A all-state team. Kayla and Ladenburg were elected to the Northwestern A all-conference team, and Kelsey DeWit was a second-team all-conference pick.

AFTER BEING UPSET by Havre in the first round, Glendive came out with a vengeance against C-Falls on Friday — hitting seven of its first 10 shots while the ‘Kats made just one of their first 10.

The ‘Kats did not score their first field goal until there were 35 seconds left in the first period. Glendive led 33-16 at halftime and 41-20 with a period to play.

“They came out just on fire, ready to play. We came out sluggish,” Fairbank said. “I thought they were the best team in the tournament.”

Showing a lot of heart and determination, the ‘Kats trimmed their deficit to 14 points midway through the final quarter. But the Red Devils were able to hold the ‘Kats at bay the rest of the way.

“They came out and worked really hard,” Fairbank said of the fourth quarter. “I was real proud of them.”

The coach indicated that the ‘Kats expended a lot of physical and emotional energy the day before against Hamilton and had a hard time getting untracked.

Glendive outrebounded C-Falls 33-22 and had 12 offensive rebounds.

Kayla DeWit scored nine of her team-high 14 points in the fourth period. Kelsey DeWit added 10. Ladenburg had six assists.

Although everyone else should be back next season, Ladenburg will be missed.

“Alyssa played a huge part in us getting where we were,” Fairbank said. “Her confidence, ballhandling and attitude was just superb. She was a joy to coach. We’re really going to miss her next year.”

— Jordan Dawson also contributed to this story.

HAMILTON — Misha Trotter 0 0-0 0, Ali Mildenberger 0 0-2 0, Cierra Smith 7 0-0 21, Ashley Albert 2 3-5 7, Annie Schultz 3 1-2 10, Averyl LaSalle 1 0-1 2, Kaurie Albert 1 0-0 3, Ashley Hayes 0 0-0 0. Totals 17 5-12 51.

COLUMBIA FALLS — McKenzie Reeve 0 0-0 0, Dani Gilley 0 0-0 0, Ashli Fairbank 0 0-0 0, Brooke Cady 0 0-2 0, Kayla DeWit 6 3-4 15, Alyssa Ladenburg 5 2-6 12, Shay Grilley 2 0-0 4, Kelsey DeWit 9 1-4 19. Totals 21 6-16 48.

Hamilton 2 10 13 17 9 — 51

Columbia Falls 12 10 15 5 6 — 48

3-point goals: Trotter, Smith 7, Schultz 3, K. Albert. Total fouls: Hamilton 15, Columbia Falls 14. Fouled out: none.

GLENDIVE — Abbey Dufner 1 0-0 3, Carly Selvig 7 0-0 14, Kyla Johnson 3 3-4 11, Hannah McPherson 2 2-4 8, Blair Milne 4 4-6 12, Lillian Temple 0 0-0 0, Kallie Madler 0 1-2 1, Sadie Sampson 0 2-2 2, Katie Turner 0 1-2 1, Jessica Zander 0 0-0 0, Devyn Asche 0 1-2 1, Ashley Skillestad 0 0-0 0. Totals 17 14-24 53.

COLUMBIA FALLS — Reeve 0 0-0 0, Gilley 0 2-2 2, Fairbank 0 1-2 1, Cady 1 0-0 2, Kayla DeWit 4 6-8 14, Ladenburg 1 1-2 3, Grilley 3 0-0 8, Shiloh Knudsen 0 0-0 0, Kelsey DeWit 5 0-0 10. Totals 14 10-14 40.

Glendive 15 18 8 12 — 53

Columbia Falls 6 10 4 20 — 40

3-point goals: Dufner, Johnson 2, McPherson 2; Grilley 2. Total fouls: Glendive 13, Columbia Falls 19. Fouled out: none.