Vals find areas needing improvement in opening games

The Valkyries split their games in the Tip Off Tournament in Polson and Ronan, losing to two-time defending state champions Anaconda 56-28 on Saturday after defeating Frenchtown 47-35 on Friday.

"This weekend was good for showing us what we need to work on, and there is a lot," said Mark Hansen, Bigfork head girls basketball coach. "We have a long way to go."

It took the Bigfork girls three quarters to score as many points as Anaconda did in just the first quarter alone, 20.

"I didn't get the girls ready to play," Hansen said. "We came out and looked at the front of their jerseys and decided that we couldn't win. We had already lost by tip-off. We played scared. I feel like that all comes back to me though. I just didn't prepare them well enough. Our girls just watched in awh. I don't think Anaconda had to really put in too much effort."

The Vals had four points in the first, six in the second and 10 in the third before adding just eight more in the final quarter. Anaconda had a 47-20 lead at the half and scored 15 and nine in the remaining two quarters, respectively.

Hansen said that it boiled down to the girls not believing in themselves.

"We're going to have to work on that," he said. "We have to be comfortable and confident in what we do and not worry about who we're playing."

Junior Caitlin Charlebois led the Vals with eight points. Sophomore Taylor Peck and junior Quinci Paine contributed seven and six, respectively.

"We didn't execute on offense," Hansen said of their low scoring numbers. "We just sort of stood around."

Sophomore Melissa VanDerveer grabbed six rebounds. Sophomore McKinze Shults and Peck each had three steals. Charlebois had four assists.

"They exploited our weaknesses and showed us what we need to work on," Hansen said. "Anaconda pressed us and we need to learn to deal with that. We're going to play a lot of good teams this year that are going to press us when they want to win. We turned the ball over 27 times against Anaconda and they never truly had a full-court press on us."

Bigfork was without their leading scorer from the previous day, junior Mallery Knoll, who was out of town. VanDerveer played in her place.

"Mallery is definitely one of our best players, but Mel took her spot and did a great job of taking care of the ball," Hansen said. "It hurt us a little to not have Mallery there, but we had a lot of other things we need to work on."

Bigfork performed better against Frenchtown, pulling ahead 16-13 by the end of the first quarter. Knoll put up 12 points, including two 3-pointers in that opening quarter.

"I thought everyone played real well," Hansen said. "We have some things we need to work on, but for our first game I thought we did well. We came out with some good intensity and worked the floor well."

The Vals outscored Frenchtown again in the second to extend their lead to 27-19 at the half. Frenchtown gained a little ground back in the third as they scored 12 points to Bigfork's 10. However, the Vals held them to just four points in the final period while Charlebois and Fierro combined for all 10 of Bigfork's points with six and four, respectively.

"I thought the girls did a nice job defensively," Hansen said. "They let down a little bit in the second half, but they came back well."

Knoll had a game-high 18 points and had three assists in addition to leading the Vals in steals with six and rebounds with seven. Fierro added 11 points and had three blocks. Peck had five assists to go with her four points.

"Kailey's hustle was a big help for us in this game," Hansen said. "Really, everyone did a great job hustling and moving the ball."

Even after the first game, Hansen saw some areas he thought his team needed to focus on.

"There's some things we need to work on, like being ready for presses and clock management especially at the end of the game."

The tournament was a good experience for some of the Valkyries' youngest players, who played varsity for the first time.

"I thought Mel had a good opening tournament for having never played varsity before," Hansen said. "McKinze, another sophomore, had a good game on Saturday as well. That's a good sign for us. That means we're able to pull girls off the bench and use them when we need to and it means we're building our depth."

The Vals host their first game of the season tonight, Dec. 17, against Eureka. The froshmore team will get things started at 4:15 p.m. followed by the junior varsity and varsity. The Bigfork girls travel to Loyola on Saturday and St. Ignatius on Monday.