Vals sweep tournament

To very little surprise, the Bigfork Valkyries (17-3) came out of the District 7B Tournament in Libby last weekend the same way they went in to it — on top.

Bigfork had a bye in the first round, then dominated St. Ignatius in the second 60-25, which sent the Vals into the championship game Saturday night where they laid down an authoritative 71-34 victory over Eureka.

Bigfork's senior post Kailey Fierro had the quarter of her life Saturday when she racked up 20 nearly consecutive points in the second quarter against the Lady Lions.

"I've been coaching a long time and I've never seen an individual, boy or girl, have a quarter like that," said Mark Hansen, Bigfork High School head girls basketball coach. "I think she got some confidence and just sort of went with it. You have to give the wings credit too for continuing to get the ball to her."

Fierro got started on her 20-point run two minutes into the second quarter and preceded to make nine of her 10 shots. She accounted for all but two of the Vals' second-quarter points, and the only other basket was made by McKinze Shults off of an assist from Fierro.

"I didn't even really notice it was happening at the time," Fierro said. "When I subbed out, everyone told me that I had just scored 20 points and I had no idea."

Fierro's hot streak came at just the right time as the Vals struggled in the first quarter, though they did outscore Eureka 10-6.

"It was a slow start," Hansen said. "Eureka did a good job of stopping us and we had a hard time getting our shots in during that first quarter."

There were some reversals to the team's usual dynamics as players like Mallery Knoll and Taylor Peck, who usually make big contributions in the first half, accounted for most of their points in the second half.

"At halftime, I told them 'Take what they give you. They can't take away all the facets of our game,'" Hansen said. "And that's exactly what they went out and did. They just used what they were given and they made it work."

Bigfork had 22 third-quarter points and 17 in the final period, while holding Eureka to seven and nine, respectively.

"Eureka concentrated so much on Kailey in the second half that they opened it up for our guards up front and they were able to get quite a few shots in," Hansen said.

Fierro finished the game with 23 points after putting in three of her four foul shots.

Peck had 15 points, including three 3-pointers and she was 4-for-6 from the free-throw line. Peck was also Bigfork's assist leader with five. Knoll added 13 points all from the field and helped the Vals out with six steals. Lila Cenis, who got in some early foul trouble, led the team in rebounding with six boards and Shults grabbed five.

The win not only gave the Vals the championship and the No. 1 seed going into divisionals, but it also kept their district record untarnished.

"I was proud that the girls were able to get through the district tournament undefeated," Hansen said. "I think it was a good testament to their hard work and how well they have been playing all season."

An added bonus for the Bigfork girls was that they got to takedown their rivals.

Although Bigfork is newly back in Class B, Eureka is already a foe of the Vals, as the team went rounds with them all volleyball season.

Bigfork got the first punch in when they won the District 7B Volleyball Tournament, following a drop-down drag-out match. However, Eureka was responsible for knocking the Vals out of the divisional tournament the following week.

"They were happy that they played well against Eureka," Hansen said. "I think it added a little something extra to the championship game for the girls to be going up against Eureka. They were excited about it, especially the volleyball girls and the others clued in on that."

As if their success in the championship game wasn't enough to celebrate, the girls had another thing to pat themselves on the back for — they broke the school's record for most points scored in a girls basketball game. The previous record was set in a 2006 game against Stevensville in which the Valkyries scored 70 points.

"It made for an interesting last couple minutes of the game," Hansen said. "It was something they wanted and something they wanted to do against Eureka. I'm not usually much of a record guy, but it gave them motivation to work hard in practice and to keep working hard during games this season, even when we were ahead by 20 or 30 points."

The Vals had just such a lead the previous day when they took on St. Ignatius in their first game of the tournament. Bigfork had one of their best defensive games of the season, as they held the Lady Bulldogs to nine points in the first half and 16 in the second.

Offensively, Bigfork had three girls reach double figures —Knoll with 15, Caitlin Charlebois with 14 and Peck with 13.

"St. Ignatius tried to pack in the defense, but they left the outside shot open and our guards were able to score quite a few points," Hansen said.

The Vals had 12 points in the first quarter and Knoll put up nine points in the second quarter, including two threes, to help the Vals reach 31 points by the end of the first half. Eight girls on the Bigfork team combined to score 29 points in the second half. Although Knoll had the game-high, she didn't get to put up her points in the usual way.

"She took the shots that were given to her," Hansen said. "She didn't get her normal breakaway shots. They took some of that away from her with their press. But she hung in there and got some shots in, and she got some openings for some other girls."

Having so many girls be able to score is one of Bigfork's biggest assets, according to Hansen.

"It gives us an advantage because an opponent can't just get on one of our girls and tear down our whole game," Hansen said. "One of our biggest strengths is how much depth we have compared to everyone else."

That depth extends into other aspects of the game as well. Knoll led in rebounding with seven and Shults grabbed six boards. Charlebois was the Vals' leader in steals with five and Peck had the most assists with three.

That well-rounded play will come in handy this week as the Vals take part in the Western B Divisional Tournament at the Salish Kootenai College in Pablo and battle for one of the two spots given to their division for the state tournament.

The girls' first game is at 11 a.m. today, Feb. 25, against Valley Christian of Missoula. Hansen said that he has looked into their next opponent, and although Valley Christian is a fourth-seed, the team will not be an easy target.

"I thought they were one of the best rebounding teams I've seen this year," Hansen said. "They have a lot of height, including a 6-foot post player that they try to get the ball to quite a bit, so we're going to have to work on doing a better job of defending the post. I think it's going to come down to defense and rebounding like it so often does."

Check the Eagle's Web site, www.bigforkeagle.com, throughout the tournament for updates on the Valkyries' games.