WEB UPDATE: Vals knocked out of state tourney

The Bigfork Valkyries lost their second game of the 2009 Montana High School Association Class A Girls Basketball Tournament on Friday afternoon, falling 49-47 to Belgrade High School.

The loss knocks the Vals out of the tournament, the second year in a row the BHS girls have lost their first two matches at state.

The other team at state from the Northwest A Conference, the Colubia Falls Wildkats, also lost their second game of the tournament Friday, losing 53-40 to Gendive High School.

The Vals fell to Anaconda 74-45 Thursday night in the first round of the tournament at the Butte Civic Center.

The Vals kept up with the defending state champion Copperheads in the first quarter, trailing by just one basket. But Anaconda pulled away from there, holding a 36-21 lead at halftime.

Bigfork picked themselves back up in the second half, scoring 13 in the third and 11 in the fourth, but the Copperheads scored 38 points in the second half.

Anaconda put in 10 3-pointers and had two girls who scored 21 points each.

Bigfork was led by Roxy Thurman with 12 points. She also grabbed seven rebounds and made two assists and two steals. Caitlin Charlebois was next with eight points after putting in a 3-point shot in the first and fourth quarters. Kailey Fierro led Bigfork in rebounding with eight and she scored seven points, made three assists and two blocks.

The Vals move into the consolation bracket in the double-elimination tournament where they will play Belgrade at 2 p.m. today, March 6. Anaconda, the only one seed team to survive the first day of the tournament, will advance to the 8 p.m. semi-finals game and play against Miles City.

For more on this story, please see the March 12 edition of the Bigfork Eagle.