Lady Hawks earn No. 2 seed at state

It was only fitting and proper, one might say, that the two teams who met in the Western B Girls Divisional final were Bigfork and Thompson Falls.

Bigfork’s 45-26 win over the Blue Hawks gave them a 3-0 season sweep and the top seed from the West in the upcoming Class B State championships in Bozeman.

Three lopsided wins aside, the Lady Valkyries were clearly the cream of the 7B and West B Divsional crop this year.

But harken back to a game in Thompson Falls January 11 of this year and it is clear why Bigfork deserves its place in the March 10-12 state finals, but also why the Lady Hawks earned the right to go as the second seed.

Prior to the January 11 game, both teams had pushed to unbeaten records, 8-0 for Bigfork and 7-0 for Thompson Falls. The league was abuzz with talk of the impending collision, it was after all, on the Blue Hawks home court.

But stunningly, the Valkyries rolled to an easy 69-30 victory and the focus of the battle for 7B standings turned to the number two spot.

T Falls and Eureka emerged as favorites for the runner-up role and in the end, that’s exactly how it played out.

Not only did Lady Hawks long-tenured and highly successful head coach Chadd Laws right what became a wobbling ship, he got them into the Divisional finals where despite the loss to Bigfork, a trip to the coveted State finals was up for grabs.

In one of the strangest first quarters of the year, Bigfork scored just one basket but still “forged” a 2-0 lead as defenses and turnovers were the rule of the first eight minutes of play.

Things returned to “normal” in the second quarter as the Lady Valkyries outscored T Falls 16-9 to take an 18-9 halftime lead. Perhaps most stunning of the first half was the lack of offense by either of these scoring powers.

T Falls had actually taken a lead in the second quarter, 3-2, and were tied with Bigfork at seven apiece before the top seed went on a last minute tear in which they scored six points, including five in the last 20 seconds of the first half to take the nominal halftime lead.

Things stayed tight in the third quarter as defense continued to be the name of the game for both squads. By the end of the third frame, the Valkyries, who had three players score in double figures for the game, out-pointed the Lady Hawks 13-10 to build a 31-19 lead heading into the final eight minutes of the game.

Paced by the game-high 12 points from Braeden Gunlock, Bigfork added seven points to their lead to secure the victory and the West Division first-place trophy. Two other players, Madison Chappuis and Emma Berreth scored 11 points each for Bigfork, which upped its season record to 22-1.

Ellie Baxter and Chesney Lowe had eight point each to lead T Falls.

The win by Bigfork actually assured there would be no challenge game Monday, due to the fact Thompson Falls had already played and beaten third-place Eureka.

As a result, the Lady Hawks earned the right to pack their bags for Bozeman and a shot at the State B Girls championship.

T Falls worked their way to the final game with a pair of victories, beginning with a 55-45 win over Missoula Loyola Thursday evening.

The first half was a back and forth series of ties and lead changes, culminating in a 21-21 tie at the break.

The Lady Hawks behind a monster game from Ellie Baxter opened up a seven point lead by the end of the third quarter and headed into the final stanza sporting a 38-31 advantage.

The two teams mostly traded baskets throughout the final eight minutes of play as T Falls added three points to its lead and went on the chalk up the win which sent them to the Friday night semi-finals.

Baxter scored 29 points to lead all scorers and the Hawks got 12 from junior forward Avery Burgess to add to the victory and set up a semi’s match with Eureka.

Friday night against the Lady Lions was a defensive manual on how to stop scoring and another on how not to score as Eureka emerged with a narrow 4-2 lead after the first quarter of play.

T Falls found the range with its offense in the second quarter as they outscored Eureka 13-7 to grab a 15-11 halftime lead.

Baxter, who scored a game-best 13 points, and Burgess, who added nine, were instrumental in keeping the Lady Hawks ahead the rest of the way. T Falls outscored the Lady Lions 11-6 in the third quarter as they built a 26-17 lead heading into the final quarter of regulation. Thompson Falls added five more points to that lead in quarter number four to propel them to the finals match against Bigfork.

T Falls rose to 16-7 overall with the win.