Kats take fourth at divisional tourney

Hungry Horse News

They got a berth to the state tournament, but it wasn’t the way they would have liked to.

The Columbia Falls girls basketball team went 2-2 at the Western A divisional tourney in Hamilton last week, taking fourth after an up and down tournament.

The Wildkats opened the tournament with a 46-36 win over Stevensville, but lost in the semifinals Friday to rival Dillon, 56-40 in a game where the Kats led by seven at the break.

The Kats held Dillon to just four points in the second quarter, but the Kats only put six points on the board in the third and nine in the fourth.

Hope McAtee had 18 in the loss.

The Kats then clawed through a dramatic win Saturday morning over Butte Central, 44-42 to earn a ticket to state. Grace Gedlaman would put the Kats up by a point with about 2:30 left.

Gedlaman had 15 in the win.

The Kats then faced off against conference foe Browning later in the day, but lost 56-44.

Coach Cary Finberg was worried about the up and down play of the girls. He noted that offense ebbs and flows from game-to-game. But defensively the team has been solid until this weekend, when they had lapses they haven’t had up until now.

“We play well for a quarter or a half,” he said. “Then a completely different team shows up.”

He noted against Dillon they gave up more points in a half than they have all season; and against Browning, they gave up the most points in a quarter.

They need more consistent play across the board. He was pleased with the play of Hope McAtee, who went from a sophomore to “a seasoned veteran.”

She averaged 15.5 points per game.

The girls open the state tournament on March 9 at the University of Montana against Billings Central, the No. 1 seed in the east at 8 p.m..

Central beat Havre 49-37 for their fourth consecutive divisional title.

Finberg said they’ll work on cleaning some things up in their game this week and said if they play like they did the first half against Dillon, they can play with anyone.