Columbia Falls girls basketball team continues to roll

The Columbia Falls girls basketball team continues to roll through their competition, but Bigfork gave them a pretty good test last week. The Wildkats beat the Class B Valkyries 54-42 Thursday on the road, despite shooting 1-for-17 from beyond the arc. The Kats then dominated Polson Saturday, away 77-32. 

Coach Cary Finberg said the Bigfork game was a good test for the girls, who still played defense well enough to win. They forced 22 Bigfork turnovers while only making 10 themselves. They also had 17 offensive rebounds to Bigfork’s nine.

“We played well enough defensively to give ourselves a chance,” Finberg said.

The Kats were led by Kiara Burlage with 19 while Sydney Hovde had 15. Cydney Finberg had five assists.

“This was exactly the type of game we needed,” Finberg said.

Against Polson it was more of the same. Cydney Finberg had 10 assists and no turnovers. Burlage had 20 points and Ellie Johnson had 10 to lead the Kats. The team’s four juniors — Hovde, Finberg, Burlage and Peyton Kehr were one stat away from each having double-doubles. Burlage had nine rebounds, Kehr had 10 rebounds, Hovde had eight boards and Finberg was one point away from scoring in double figures.

They also out-rebounded the Lady Pirates 39-20.

The Kats wrap up the regular season with a game Thursday on the road against Corvallis and then finish the regular season with an away game against Whitefish Saturday. They’re assured the regular season Northwest A title and are now 15-1 overall and are 5-0 in conference play. After the Whitefish game,  they have 10 days without games before the Western A divisional tournament in Butte where they’ll go in as the No. 1 seed from the Northwest. 

   Columbia Falls 11 11 17 15 — 54

Bigfork 6 11 14 11 — 42

COLUMBIA FALLS — Sydney Grilley 3, Cydney Finberg 2, Ellie Johnson 2, Peyton Kehr 2, Miranda Livingston 3, Kiara Burlage 19, Allyson Gimbel 8, Sydney Hovde 15.

BIGFORK — Haile Norred 3, Jaime Berg 8, Mattison McAnally 4, Lana Berg 16, Miranda Campbell 11.

C. Falls 21 20 23 13 — 77

Polson 11 8 8 10 — 37

COLUMBIA FALLS — Sydney Grilley 6, Hannah Gedlaman 1, Cydney Finberg 7, Ellie Johnson 11, Peyton Kehr 9, Miranda Livingston 4, Kiara Burlage 20, Allyson Gimbel 9, Sydney Hovde 10.

POLSON — MaKenna Weltz 14, Marlee Congdon 5, Brenna Clarke 2, Nichole Lake 12, Erin Sampson 4.