Girls have tough time against Flathead, Missoula
<p>Hope Burlage is sandwiched by three Flathead Bravettes during their game last Thursday.</p>
The Columbia Falls girls basketball team had a tough time with two AA opponents last week. The Wildkats lost to the Flathead Bravettes last Thursday 52-41 and to Missoula Sentinel last Saturday 66-39.
In the Flathead game, the Kats kept the score close up until the last five minutes, but the Bravettes pulled away late in the fourth for the victory.
The Kats were down by just five points with about five minutes to play, but the Bravettes knocked in a quick barrage of baskets and the Kats never recovered.
“They just outrebounded us, plain and simple,” said coach Dan Fairbank. Flathead had 22 more shot attempts than the Kats.
The girls were led by Kayla DeWit, who tallied 11 points in the loss.
Against Sentinel, the Lady Spartans out-scored the Kats 18-8 in the third quarter en route to a 27-point victory. DeWit was the lead scorer with 16 points for the Kats.
Fairbank saw improvement, despite the loss.
“The things I asked the kids to do was work hard and hustle and rebound,” he said. In the first half, they did that. But they didn’t shoot well, going three-for-23 in the first 23 shots. They shot just 25 percent from the field for the entire game and had 27 turnovers.
The Kats are now 0-4, but no reason to panic. In past years this team has started out slow, only to right the ship once conference play begins.
“We could easily have three wins under our belts,” if the girls had played better on the boards, Fairbank noted. “We’ll work hard over the break.”
They’ll have a long holiday break and resume action Jan. 6 with an away game against class B Eureka.
Their first conference game is Jan. 7 against Libby at home. Game time is 7 p.m.
Sentinel 13 16 18 19 - 66
Columbia Falls 7 11 8 13 - 39
Missoula Sentinel - Kennedy Fulbright 4 0-0 11, McCall Hasquet 4 3-3 12, Kate Focher 3 1-2 7, Liz Harper 5 0-0 10, Megan Beach 1 0-0 2, Keli Grover 3 0-0 6, Kate Patenaude 0 3-4 3, Olivia Roberts 6 3-4 15, Amanda Davis 0 0-2 0. Totals 26 10-20 66.
Columbia Falls - Kayla Stratton 0 1-2 1, Cedar Jordt 1 0-0 2, Danielle Gilley 4 1-2 9, Kayla DeWit 6 4-4 16, Madi Sandefer 1 0-0 2, Hope Burlage 0 4-4 4, Jonna Werner 2 1-4 5. Totals 14 11-16 39.
Columbia Falls 8 11 8 14 - 41
Flathead 12 12 12 16 - 52
Columbia Falls - Kayla Stratton 2 0-1 4, Danielle Gilley 3 0-0 6, Kayla DeWit 4 3-4 11, Allison Lampman 1 1-4 4, Hope Burlage 3 1-5 7, Jonna Werner 3 1-2 7, Erin Hill 1 0-0 2. Totals 17 6-16 41.
Flathead - Emma Andrews 0 2-2 2, Sam Thompson 1 2-2 4, Tess Brenneman 1 1-3 3, Megan Jones 1 0-2 2, Brittany Earnest 4 0-0 9, Cassie Krueger 10 2-3 23, Danika Johnson 4 1-1 9. Totals 21 8-12 52.