Wildkats open season with overtime win over Glendive
The Wildkats survived a strong test from a pair of quality teams over the weekend as Columbia Falls opened the season with wins over Glendive and Corvallis at the Western A Tip Off Tournament in Frenchtown.
After a sluggish start in the opening quarter against Glendive Friday evening, the Kats settled in to a nice offensive rhythm and used their pressing defense to pull out a 46-40 overtime win against the Lady Red Devils. Down 11 in opening quarter with sophomore guard Maddie Robison already in foul trouble, the Kats rallied against Glendive’s trio of six-footers to cut the lead to 23-19 at the half before taking the lead in the third quarter.
The Kats led by two in the closing seconds of regulation, but Glendive was able to make two out of three free throws after being fouled on a shot beyond the arc to send the game into overtime.
“It was just one of those deals where we were a little tentative on offense early on, but we were OK once we settled down. Getting the lead down to four at half was huge for us,” head coach Cary Finberg said about the win. ‘Other than the first four or five minutes, I thought we played very well.”
Glendive senior forward Karsen Murphy, who has signed to play with the Griz next season, scored nine in the opening half for the Lady Red Devils, but was held scoreless in the second half and overtime after the Kats switched to a box-and-one zone defense with Graceanne Sevesind on Murphy the majority of the time.
“I thought Graceanne did a great job against Murphy for us,” Finberg said. “She (Sevesind) scored four points, but her real impact came on the defensive side of the ball. She set the tone for us on defense and she played well.”
With Sevesind holding Murphy in check, point guard LaKia Hill kept the pace of the game moving quickly while forwards Josie Windauer and Maddy Hoerner dominated under the basket.
“Overall, I thought we did a good job against a Glendive team that is good enough to get to the state tournament,” Finberg said. “This is a quality team with some very good seniors. For us to come out and play them the way we did in the first game of the season is very encouraging.”
Hill led the Wildkat scoring attack with 14 points in the win while Robison scored all 12 of her points in the second half. Windauer was also in double figures with 11 points, Sevesind scored four, Hoerner had three and Peyton Rhodes scored two.
The Kats faced another good test in their next game Saturday as the took on 6-foot-4 Isabel Evans and the Corvallis Blue Devils.
This time, the Kats wasted no time building a lead as Columbia Falls jumped out to a 16-3 first-quarter lead as Evans was quickly relegated to the bench with foul trouble. The Kats continued to add to their lead as they pulled away for a 58-34 victory, holding Evans to just six points.
“We want Josie and Maddy to be aggressive and that helped us get Evans on the bench early,” Finberg said. “Attacking Evans wasn’t necessarily our plan coming in, but we were going to be aggressive and not back down and it worked well for us.”
Robison led the way against Corvallis with 17 points while Windauer added 11, Hoerner scored nine, Hill added six, Kimberly Peacock and Rhodes each scored four and Sevesind and Lauren Falkner each had three points.
Finberg says it was a good way to start the season, but there is still more work to be done as the season continues Saturday with the Kats’ home opener against Stevensville.