Senior Roxy Thurman named to All-State squad

Selections have been made for the girls basketball All-State and All-Conference teams and three players from Bigfork made the lists.

"I'm really comfortable with how we came out on the lists in relation to how we finished the season," said Bigfork head girls basketball coach Mark Hansen.

Senior Roxy Thurman was chosen for first team All-Conference and the All-State team.

"I really believe Roxy is the most versatile player in the conference," Hansen said. "She was a conference leader in field goals, rebounds, steals and assists."

During the regular season Thurman made 52.34 percent of her 2-point field goals, a rate better than any other girl in the conference. In 18 games she made 67 2-pointers, an average of 3.72 per game, the sixth best in the conference. She was fourth for combined field goals with an average of 4.67 per game and after scoring a total of 254 points, she ended her final season with the third-best scoring average in the conference, 14.11 per game. She also tied for third most assists this season, with 51 and an average of 2.83. Defensively, Thurman led the conference in steals with 70 and tied for fourth in number of blocks, with 13.

Junior Kailey Fierro and sophomore Mallery Knoll were both named second team All-Conference.

Knoll was another hot shooter for the Vals, beating out the upperclassmen to finish the season with the best field goal shooting percentage in the conference, 49.34 percent. In 18 games she put in 75 shots from the field in 152 attempts. She had the fifth highest average for number of 2-point field goals per game, with 3.83, and was the second most accurate behind Thurman.

"I think Mallery really came into her own when we moved her into a two-guard," Hansen said. "She had some high scoring games and did some good things for us defensively. She and Roxy really worked well together."

Fierro led the conference in blocks with 33 in 15 games for an average of 2.20 per game. She was sixth in the conference in rebounding with a total of 108 and an average of 7.20 per game.

"Kailey's defense and rebounding really helped us a lot," Hansen said. "She had huge games for us with blocking shots from the other teams. A lot of the other teams targeted her on offense and shut her down from scoring and I think that was frustrating for her. She probably passed up some shots when she was kicking the ball out to the other girls and getting everyone involved."

The coaches from the Northwest A Conference met at the end of the season to discuss which of their players they thought should receive the honors. Afterward the coaches took a vote and the top seven vote receivers were put on the first team All-Conference and the next seven were named to the second team. The three girls with the most votes were named All-State players.

The All-State and All-Conference teams for boys basketball will be announced following the state tournament this weekend in Great Falls.