Girls playing their best ball heading into divisionals
Emalee Alton with a drive over Whitefish.
The Columbia Falls girls basketball team capped off the regular season with a drubbing of Polson on the road last Tuesday, 51-34.
They now face Hamilton, the No. 3 seed from the Southwest in the Western A Divisional tournament in Whitefish Thursday at 3:30 p.m.
Get past the Broncs and the Wildkats would likely face Frenchtown, the No. 1 seed from the Southwest Friday.
Hamilton started out the season 0-8, but rebounded to win 5 of their last nine regular season games. They’re 5-12 overall.
Frenchtown is the top seed from the Southwest, Bigfork from the Northwest.
With the win against Polson, the Wildkats rounded out the regular season at 8-4 in conference play and 10-8 overall.
The Kats are playing their best basketball of the year after a 2-6 start to the year. They’ve won their final four games, including a key win against Browning that helped secure second in the conference.
The girls are playing much better defensively and rebounding better as well. They’re also taking care of the ball better, as they had just eight turnovers against the Lady Pirates.
“We’re really starting to hit our peak at tournament time,” head coach Jeremy Grilley said. “We’re in a good spot to be one of four to go to state.”
Grilley said in addition to the team defense, they’ve been rebounding much better. They were averaging in the 20s a game earlier this season. That number is now in the 40s.
With every rebound, a player gets a second chance to make a basket.
Against Polson, the girls were led by senior Taryn Borgen with 12 and Rylee Sweeney with 12. Senior Emalee Alton chipped in 10 and had eight rebounds, while Sweeney had seven.
Columbia Falls 15 10 9 17 - 51
Polson 10 12 2 10 - 34
COLUMBIA FALLS — Alexa Friske 2, Onnikka Lawrence 6, Addy Bowler 2, Taryn Borgen 12, Kierra Kemppainen 7, Emalee Alton 10, Rylee Sweeney 12.
POLSON — Aleysia Black 2, Rylee Taylor-Jefferson 9, Samantha Rensvold 12, Hinkley Moss 4, Olivia Ramirez 3, Josie Henriksen 4.