Despite loss, Thompson Falls plays well at Bigfork
Matt Unrau
The Bigfork Valkaries are a tough team. There’s no question their preseason number one ranking is accurate after they beat Mission by 27 points and Eureka by 20 points. Since they’re such a good team, it’s not as important what the score is at the end of the game for the Ladyhawks, but that they leave with the respect of their opponent.
That is precisely what the Thompson Falls Ladyhawks did on Saturday as they came back from Christmas break with a improved offense and defense giving Bigfork all they could handle for 22 minutes of basketball before eventually falling to them 47-20.
“Against teams like Bigfork and Loyola we’re not as concerned about what the scoreboard says, but that we’re playing basketball the right way,” says Coach Jason Reimer. “That was a competitive game, Bigfork didn’t walk over us, we made them earn that game.”
Switching to a two-post offense and a new 2-3-2 zone defense modeled after the Lady Griz, Thompson Falls came out firing. Behind some great offense from Kyla Molzhon the Ladyhawks ended the first half down by only one point, 21-20.
Coach Reimer says it was the best game of the year for Molzhon who has really stepped up her offensive game recently driving the ball and hitting shots. Couple this with an aggressive Karli Cavill and Becker who is hitting 43 percent from the field and the Ladyhawks found the right combination in the first half.
At halftime Coach Reimer implored his team to remember that if they can play this well for a half they can play this well for the whole game, and despite being outscored by 18 in the second half Reimer thinks his team’s play will go a long way for their confidence and morale.
“It showed them that they can compete. We’re gonna have to play a pretty close to perfect game(against Bigfork), but it’s within the realm of possibility. If they play that way every night they’re gonna be in every game.”
Junior forward Makayla Becker agrees with her coach about her team’s play.
“We really held our own against them,” pronounced Becker who said that before the game many people were expecting it to be a 40-point blowout. “Instead of us going in thinking we lost the game, it was just like we played well against a team that we would probably have lost to anyway.”
Molzhon led the team with 9 points, while Becker had 8 points and Cavill had 7 points.
The strong play of Becker is a welcome sight for Thompson Falls fans as last year when she suffered an ACL, MCL and POL injury. It wasn’t until November 23, that she finally was able to return to the basketball court and she says she is finally getting back her aggressive mindset.
“It was hard at first. I just had to get the mindset back that I could do it,” says Becker. “I didn’t do much (the first day back on the court). I just ran up and down the floor. I was still nervous to play against other people.”
Thompson Falls is now 1-2 in conference play. The team will play Charlo away on Friday and Loyola home on Saturday.