T-Falls girls secure No. 2 seed with win over St. Ignatius
Chesney Lowe reaches in to steal the ball from Bigfork's Ava Davey in the second quarter Saturday. (Jeremy Weber/Bigfork Eagle)
With the District 7B second seed on the line, Thompson Falls’ Lady Hawks dug deep and came up with a 52-51 win over now fourth-seeded St. Ignatius during a hard-fought conference battle Thursday night in St. Ignatius.
After securing the number two seed and the first round bye that goes with it, the Lady Hawks got another shot at the top-seeded Bigfork Valkyries and lost to the league champs 62-45 Saturday evening in Bigfork.
Thompson Falls lost to Bigfork in early January by a score of 69-30 when both teams met with unbeaten conference and seasonal records on the line.
Thursday against St. Ignatius, the only team to beat Bigfork this year, the Blue Hawks were opening the toughest weekend on their schedule. And the Lady Bulldogs were looking for revenge for an 11-point loss to Thompson in early January.
They started out strong against the Lady Hawks, grabbing a narrow 13-10 first quarter lead, then upping the offensive output in the second quarter to secure a 31-21 halftime lead.
Heading into the final quarter of the game, T Falls was trailing 44-35. With both offenses struggling on the night, Thompson Falls managed to outscore their host 17-7 in the fourth quarter, allowing them to eke out the one-point, 52-51 win and preserve their shot at the 7B second seed.
Maliyah LeCoure led Thompson Falls in scoring with 12 points.
The win pushed the Blue Hawks to 13-4 overall and 7-2 in conference play. Mission fell to 5-4 in conference and 10-7 overall with the loss.
Saturday night the Lady Hawks were in Bigfork for a game with the Lady Valkyries, who had routed them in the January encounter on T Falls’ home court.
Early on the Lady Valkyries showed why they are the regular season champs and have the top seed in the upcoming conference tournament as they raced to a 17-7 first quarter lead and never looked back.
By halftime the score stood at 32-18 in Bigfork’s favor. The host team then came out in the third quarter and added 12 points to their lead, giving them a 50-24 advantage with eight minutes to play.
LeCoure finished the game with 18 points to lead T Falls in scoring. Braeden Gunlock had a game-best 20 points for Bigfork
The victory closed out the Lady Valkyries regular season at 9-1 in Western 7B play and 17-1 overall.
Thompson now stands at 7-3 in the conference and 13-5 overall.
The Western 7B tourney starts Thursday in Pablo.