Kats win a pair at Tip-Off tourney

They’re making it look easy.

The Columbia Falls girls basketball team rolled over two opponents at the Northwes-Southwest A Tip-Off tournament last weekend, dropping defending Class A champs Hamilton 46-25 Friday and Anaconda 51-15 Saturday.

Coach Cary Finberg was pleased with the defensive play from his squad, but he was concerned about the lack of assists on offense.

Against the Lady Broncs the Wildkats forced 28 turnovers while only committing 10 themselves. But they only had 12 assist the whole game and Cydney Finberg had six of them. As a result, the Kats had just 13 points the entire second half and were 17 of 54 shooting.

Ellie Johnson led the squad with 16 points and four rebounds. Against the Copperheads they dominated on defense, forcing 29 turnovers, while holding Anaconda to just 13.5 percent shooting. But as a team, the Kats had just nine assists and shot just 31 percent. 

“I’m pretty happy with the defense, but pretty disappointed with how we’re passing and sharing the ball,” Finberg said.

The girls have a tougher test coming up with Glacier Friday night in Kalispell and Frenchtown at home Saturday. They wrap up the December lineup with a home game against Bigfork next Tuesday.

Glacier over the past few years has always been a good game. The Glacier game is at 6 p.m., Frenchtown is 4 p.m. and Bigfork is 7:15 p.m.