Whitefish knocks off Eureka

Jump shots and lay ups fell with ease for the Lady Bulldogs on Feb. 8 at Eureka as the Whitefish girls rolled to a 46-39 victory — their second win of the season. The 46-point total was their highest thus far and more than double their season average of 22 points a game.

“We finally shot the ball with confidence,” Whitefish coach Sean Duff said. “Everything we threw up went in. It was like there was a magnet on the rim.”

Olivia Nagler led in scoring with 12 points, followed by nine from Heather Bailey and seven each from Olivia Curtiss and Brooke Silliker.

“We had balanced scoring,” Duff noted. “I'm really happy we got the victory. Wins have been few and far between this year. It builds confidence going into divisional.”

Saturday, Whitefish fell to rival Columbia Falls 50-22 after hanging with the 'Kats for the first period. The score was tied 7-7 before Columbia Falls opened up the scoring with 27 points in the next two quarters.

“Give Columbia Falls a ton of credit,” Duff said. “Kayla DeWit is a great player, one of the best in the league and state. But we didn't show our entire hand to Columbia Falls either. We see them as our ticket to the state tournament and didn't want to show them everything before divisional.”

Duff says Whitefish could surprise some teams in the league tournament, slated for Feb. 24-26. He foresees a potential first-round game with Columbia Falls if Whitefish wraps up the No. 4 seed this week with a win over Ronan.

“We will have to compete with Columbia Falls to get to state,” he said.

Whitefish wraps up the regular season this week with Libby on Thursday and Ronan on Friday.

Whitefish 7 3 4 8 - 22

Col. Falls 7 13 14 16 - 50

WHITEFISH - Olivia Nagler 3, Oliva Curtiss 3, Amanda Foley 4, Jessica Poe 2, Brooke Silliker 5, Simone Craft 3, Ashley Brewer 2.

COLUMBIA FALLS - Danielle Gilley 5, Kayla DeWit 13, Allison Dierenfield 3, Cortney White 2, Hope Burlage 11, Jonna Werner 5, Erin Hill 2, Shaun Rowe 9.