Vals cruise by Bluehawks

The Bigfork Valkyries emerged from the Holiday Break with a new plan of attack that earned them a 47-30 victory over Thompson Falls on Saturday.

"We did a really good job on the things we worked on over the break," said Mark Hansen, head coach of the Bigfork High School girls basketball team. "We had eight fouls and only sent them to the line three times. That was something we were struggling with before. We've also been working on taking better care of the ball, and we had only eight turnovers."

Playing on their home court, the Vals (4-2, 3-0) started off a little slow, scoring nine points in the first quarter.

However, they held Thompson Falls to just five.

The Bluehawks outscored Bigfork in the second quarter, 15-12, but the Vals still held a one point lead at the half.

"We still need to work on our man-defense," Hansen said. "We let up in the second quarter and we didn't communicate the way we needed too."

Bigfork dominated the second half, though, scoring 16 points in the third and allowing the Bluehawks to score only four. The Vals had 10 fourth quarter points to Thompson Falls' six to cement the win.

"They're working really hard and they're doing a really good job," Hansen said of his team. "We spent a lot time on conditioning and that seemed to pay off. The girls looked a lot fresher out there."

Mallery Knoll had a game high 15 points and four steals for Bigfork. Caitlin Charlebois added nine points to the Vals' total and made six steals.

Quinci Paine led the team in rebounding with 12 and contributed six points. Melissa VanDerveer put up six points as well and was four for six from the free-throw line.

"We still need to work on our shooting," Hansen said. "We are only shooting at about 27 percent right now."

The Vals host Plains today, Jan. 7, and travel to Troy on Saturday for Western 7B play. Tuesday the Vals host former Northwest A Conference rivals Ronan.