Vals stay solid in conference play

The Valkyries won their eighth and ninth straight games last week as they beat Thompson Falls 65-42 on the road Saturday and St. Ignatius 45-26 at home Friday.

Both games were slow starts for the Vals, though, who played at the end of the boys and girls all-grade double-headers and struggled to get motivated when it was their turn to hit the court.

The Bigfork varsity girls (8-0, 11-2), who are undefeated in District 7B play, appeared to have met their match in Thompson Falls.

Each team scored 14 points in the first quarter. The Vals had 14 second quarter points as well, which was just four more than the Lady Bluehawks.

"The first half was a close ball game," said Mark Hansen, Bigfork High School head girls basketball coach. "We came out and played really well, but so did they. They seemed to not miss any shots and we were missing some opportunities on defense."

The Bigfork girls were shooting well too, though. Caitlin Charlebois sunk two 3-pointers in the first quarter. As a team, the Vals were 10-for-13 from the free-throw line during the first half.

"I thought the girls played pretty well," Hansen said. "We just couldn't distance ourselves from them at all."

A 22-11 push in the third quarter finally gave the Vals the gap they were fighting for.

"We wore them down in the second half and we were able to create some turnovers," Hansen said.

A 15-point fourth quarter for Bigfork, in which they allowed Thompson Falls to add just seven points to their total, gave the Vals the win.

The Vals made big improvements in their free-throw shooting in this game. As a team they were 15-for-21 overall from the line. Quinci Paine was 5-for-5 from the free-throw line and Taylor Peck was 4-for-4.

Charlebois had a game-high 18 points, including four 3-pointers after picking up two more in the final period, and five assists.

Peck added 12 points and was a rebound leader with seven. Melissa VanDerveer grabbed seven rebounds as well. Mallery Knoll contributed 12 points and four assists. Paine had nine points and six rebounds.

Freshman Emily Stephens played in her first varsity game Saturday and scored four back-to-back points during her two quarters with the team.

The Vals game against St. Ignatius started even slower. Peck put in a 3-pointer in the opening seconds of the game and the Lady Bulldogs put in a shot from the field two minutes later, but then the score remained at 3-2 until there was just two minutes left in the first quarter.

Each team put in a pair of free throws and St. Ignatius won the quarter, 6-5, by also putting in one from the field.

"It's hard for the girls to come out and play when they've been sitting around for so long during a double-header like that," Hansen said. "I think in some ways the girls weren't ready to go after sitting around the gym, but on the other hand they were also hyped up from having such a big, loud crowd. We did better with that in Thompson Falls. We left the gym a couple of times and walked around."

The Vals came to life in the second quarter as they scored 20 points led by Knoll, who was responsible for nine of those. Defensively, they held St. Ignatius to 11 points.

"I thought the girls did a good job of coming back in the second quarter," Hansen said.

The Vals continued to lead in the third quarter as they put up 11 points and only allowed St. Ignatius to score only one.

Bigfork was able to hold the Lady Bulldogs to just eight points in the fourth quarter, but the Vals struggled to score themselves as they only put up nine points in the final period.

"This is the second time that they've played us and it seemed like they figured us out a little bit this time," Hansen said. "They got on to our fast break. We're going to have to come up with other ways of scoring if that isn't going to work."

Knoll led all scorers with 16 points and was 4-for-4 from the free-throw line.

Peck contributed 12 points after making two of her three free-throw attempts and putting in a 3-pointer in every quarter except the second.

Charlebois, who had three assists, was 2-for-2 from the free-throw line and had two 3-pointers for a total of eight points.

Lila Cenis scored six points, all from her 10 attempts from the free-throw line, and she led the Vals in rebounding with 10 boards.

"I'm proud of the girls," Hansen said. "They work hard. It's not always going to be perfect."

The Vals played in Libby on Tuesday. Check www.bigforkeagle.com for results from that game.

Tonight, Feb. 4, the Vals play in Plains and Saturday they host Troy in a double-header with the Vikes for Senior Night.