Vikes, Vals get past Plains

The Bigfork Vikings (9-0, 14-1) basketball team clinched the District 7B regular season title Thursday night with a 72-57 win over Plains (5-1, 13-1), which didn't come as easy as the score implies.

The Vikes led by just one point going into the final period. But a mid-quarter Bigfork run turned the 49-48 lead the Vikes had going into the fourth quarter into the victory they needed to take the title. Ian Lorang had seven points in the fourth quarter and Carter Sorensen added six to help Bigfork outscore the Horsemen 23-9 in the final period.

The Vikes finished every quarter on top, except for the first which they lost 18-17.

Sorensen and Ker led Bigfork with 13 points apiece and Travis Knoll had 11.

The Valkyries (9-0, 12-3), who sealed up the top spot in District 7B among the girls teams last month, dominated their away game in Plains on Thursday night with a 67-22 victory.

The Bigfork girls scored held a 41-9 lead at the end of the first half and cruised through the second half with 15 third-quarter points to Plains' seven. The Vals added 11 more to their total in the final period while holding Plains (2-5, 3-12) to six.

Bigfork did not allow Plains to score more than seven points in any of the four quarters.

Mallery Knoll, Quinci Paine and Kailey Fierro each scored 11 points. Melissa VanDerveer contributed 10 and Lila Cenis added nine.

The Vikes and Vals will host Troy on Saturday in a double-header for Senior Night.

Check the Feb. 11 edition of the Bigfork Eagle for coverage of all of this week's games.