Girls drop Maidens, Dogs

Hungry Horse News

They're finding their groove.

The Columbia Falls girls basketball team hammered Ronan and Whitefish last week to tie Polson for the conference crown.

The Kats (6-4, 3-0) beat a young and small Ronan squad Friday 60-28 and then walloped a winless Whitefish team Saturday 62-24.

Junior Kayla DeWit had a great weekend, scoring 24 against the Maidens and 22 against the Dogs. Sister Kelsey had 12 against Ronan and 14 against Whitefish. Shay Grilley also had a solid weekend, with eight against the Maidens and 11 against the Dogs. Brooke Cady had five points against Whitefish and a good defensive effort, where she had nine rebounds, four steals, a block and no turnovers.

Danielle Gilley also limited her turnovers.

"She did a great job at point guard for us," coach Dan Fairbank said. Turnovers have been the bane of this otherwise solid team, so seeing improvement on that end is a plus.

The Kats are on the road against AA Glacier Friday night and then at home Saturday against class B Missoula Loyola. Gametime at Glacier is 6 p.m. The Loyola game starts at 5 p.m.

Glacier will be a good test and Loyola, class B or not, is no pushover.

"Glacier will put the kind of pressure on us we'll see (later on) from Polson," Fairbank said.

The Kats have been working on some pressure of their own. Against both teams they employed two different full court presses, a couple of zone defenses and some man-to-man. It kept their opponents off kilter in a big way.

Loyola could prove an interesting opponent. They have scored 70 points or more in at least three wins this season, Fairbank noted.