Kats to enter district tournament as top seed

Despite splitting the final two games of the regular season, the Wildkats will enter this weekend’s district tournament as the top seed.

The Kats overcame a slow start to pick up a win at Whitefish Thursday but could not overcome the the Lady Indians in Browning Saturday.

The Kats found themselves in a close game at the end of three quarters in Whitefish Thursday before using a 29-9 fourth quarter to pull away.

“I was disappointed with our effort in the first half,” head coach Cary Finberg said. “We played harder in the third quarter, but at point Whitefish was in the game and playing with confidence. They really had us on the ropes for a while there.”

Another sluggish start by the Kats left Columbia Falls down 11-10 after one quarter of play and up by only two at the half against the last-place team in the conference.

“We seem to have this inability to come out and be aggressive right now,” Finberg said. “I can’t put my finger on the cause, but we need to figure it out soon.”

Whitefish continued to keep pace with the Kats in the third quarter as Columbia Falls took only a 33-29 lead into the fourth.

Ryley Kehr set the tone for the final quarter with a three in the opening seconds before hitting two more a few moments later. The Kats used a 16-3 run to pull away for 23-point victory.

Kehr led the Wildkats in scoring with 15 in the win and added six rebounds, four steals and three assists while Hannah Gedlaman added 14 points and 11 rebounds. Trista Cowan was also in double figures with 12 points and added 11 rebounds, four steals and four blocked shots.

The Kats found themselves in a tough game on the road Saturday as they fell to the Lady Indians in Browning, 51-47.

Rebounds were the difference in the game as Browning won the battle of the boards in the second half, 31-19, with 17 on the offensive end.

Despite the loss, Finberg was happy with his team’s performance.

“The bottom line is that the loss didn’t really hurt us,” he said. “It was good for us to play in a playoff-type atmosphere against a good team. They are very good and we will probably see them several more times during tournament play.”

Douglas led the Kats with 15 points in the loss while Kehr scored 13 and Gedlaman had 10.

The Kats open the district tournament in Ronan Friday at 3:30 p.m. against the winner of Ronan and Whitefish.

Columbia Falls 8 9 16 28 — 61

Whitefish 7 9 13 9 — 38

COLUMBIA FALLS — Dani Douglass 8, Savvy Ellis 4, Lakia Hill 4, Hannah Gedlaman 14, Josie Windauer 3, Ryley Kehr 15, Madysen Hoerner 1, Trista Cowan 12.

WHITEFISH — Hope Brown 2, Claire Carloss 4, Kaiah Moore 2, Ashton Ramsey 5, Annisa Brown 6, Payton Kastella 3, Marlee Bender 16.

Columbia Falls 15 11 7 14 - 47

Browning 10 12 13 16 – 51

COLUMBIA FALLS – Trista Cowan 3, Dani Douglas 15, Savvy Ellis 2, Hannah Gedlaman 10, LaKia Hill 2, Ryley Kehr 13, Josie Windauer 2.

BROWNING – Tameka Guardipee 12, Olivia Hall 3, Taylor Jordon 3, Ronnel Jordon 22, Dulci Skunkcap 11.