Top 10: Worst of basketball

Last week I looked back at highlights of this year's basketball season. However, not everything that occurred was a highlight. So here is a list of 10 things I for one could have done without during the 2009-2010 basketball season in Bigfork.

WORST 10 MOMENTS

10 .) Two Ls don't make a W — The Vikes had a great run, but having the regular season capped off with back-to-back losses was sad and actually pretty weird. I found it a little awkward to deal with the losses.

However, I guess that it is a nice change of pace from having losing be the norm. The Vikes also did a good job of coming off of those losses and playing well in their next games at the District 7B Tournament.

9.) Bus broke down — As if it wasn't tough enough for the Vals to have their season end with a last-second 3-pointer, when the Bigfork girls tried to head home from Bozeman the headlights on the team bus weren't working properly and they had to spend an additional night there before heading home.

8.) Class B tournaments lacked something — For all the hype that went around last year about what a terrible thing it was that Bigfork was switching to Class B I have to say that it didn't seem so bad. That is however, until tournament time came.

Then the difference was very apparent as Libby hosted districts in a gym that just didn't have near the glitz or the accommodations of Glacier High School, where the Northwest A Divisionals are held. Bigfork competed in the Western B Divisionals at Salish Kootenai College, which was a better atmosphere.

However, the girls state tournament at the Belgrade Civic Center brought back the low-budget feeling. It's hard to explain, but it just wasn't the same as watching the girls compete on a college court like they did last year at the Butte Civic Center.

7.)Short-shorts — While I was able to appreciate the humor in several of the Vikings wearing the throw-back shorts in the alumni game, I think I speak for most when I say that those teeny-tiny uniforms should be kept in the past.

6.) Officiating at girls state — I'm not a huge fan of the blame-the-referees game, but I have never seen such chaotic and inaccurate officiating as I did a the girls state basketball tournament.

A few low-lights included when a foul was called on Caitlin Charlebois even though she was on the bench at the time.

Also, the previous game officials had Charlebois with four fouls when she really had three, which kept coach Mark Hansen from playing her.

5.) Taylor Peck goes down — One second she was putting in buckets and the next she was grabbing her knee with tears in her eyes. Peck tore her ACL during the Vals' game against Florence at divisionals and was carried off of the court.

Her surgery was April 8, and while the injury has kept her from playing basketball and participating in track, she has been standing in as a manager and even a coach since the incident.

4.) Sloppy loser-outs — I'm not sure which was more painful to watch: the Bigfork boys barely showing up to play against Plains in their loser-out game Saturday afternoon at divisionals or having to go back to Pablo to have watch the Vals and Eureka go at it the sluggish challenge game on Monday.

Luckily for the Bigfork girls, they were able to pull a win out of the messy game, but the boys' debacle ended their otherwise standout season.

3.) Evan and Evans wounded and sick— Evan Jordt incurred a groin injury at the end of the regular season, which kept him from playing at all in the district tournament and severely limited his playing time at divisionals.

Keenan Evans woke up extremely ill on the morning of the first day of the divisional tournament and barely played in the Vikes' first round game against Loyola.

The "what if" game is a dangerous one to grapple with, but one has to wonder if things would've gone differently if Evan and Evans were healthy for the divisional game against Loyola.

2.) Vikes and Vals nearly beat Loyola — The final minutes of Bigfork's games against Loyola at the divisional tournament looked like something out of the NCAA tournament. Although Bigfork's teams looked as though they were going to beat Loyola, the fast-paced final minutes made it anyone's game to win.

Unfortunately, both the Vikes and Vals came out on the losing end of these exciting games.

1.) Mallery pushed — Like so many, I was so sure that the Valkyries were about to win their first game at a state tournament in three years.

Then they let their lead slip, but all Mallery Knoll had to do was hold the ball for three seconds.

She caught the inbounds pass, but next thing you know she was laying on the floor out-of-bounds with the ball.

The refs said that they didn't see a push, despite the obvious intentional foul situation, but the crowd from both teams said they saw it.