Vals' hopes for state tournament dashed

The Valkyries nearly defied their two-and-out state tournament curse last weekend, but after struggling in the fourth quarter two days in a row that was not their fate and they were bounced with loses to Fairfield, 56-49, and Columbus 61-60.

In Friday's loser-out game, Bigfork led Columbus 46-36 at the start of the fourth quarter, but a push by the Cougars in the final frame led to them outscoring the Valkyries 25-14 and earned them a dramatic win.

"I thought the girls competed hard and did the best they could," said Mark Hansen, Bigfork High School head girls basketball coach. "It was one of those games that turned sour in a hurry and we couldn't seem to do anything to stop it."

Bigfork's 10-point lead had been diminished to seven with less than a minute left on the clock, and with 12 seconds left the score sat at 60-55 in Bigfork's favor.

"I don't know if fatigue set in, but we started slipping," Hansen said. "We struggled scoring and they didn't. Everything they (Columbus' had to do to win it, they did.

Columbus sank a 3-pointer as Bigfork sat back to avoid fouling.

Then, with just three seconds left on the clock, the Vals inbounded the ball to Mallery Knoll.

The plan was for Knoll to just hold on to it for the short few seconds that remained and Bigfork would win its first game at a state tournament in three years.

But, from out of nowhere a Columbus defender destroyed that plan as she ran up to guard Knoll and somehow in the shuffle Knoll ended up out of bounds with the ball.

While many Bigfork players including Knoll, and fans from both schools said they saw Knoll pushed out of bound, the referees said that they did not see a foul and the ball was given to Columbus' girls under their own basket.

With about two-and-a-half seconds left to play, Columbus squeezed off a 3-point shot to win the game and end Bigfork's 20-6 season.

While most people are quick to blame the loss on the referees not calling a foul during Bigfork's final play of the game, Hansen said that there were plenty of mistakes that got the Vals to that point.

"We need to make sure our press-breaker works and that's my job," Hansen said. "We need to make sure we know how to hold on to the lead, and that's my job too. That's more important than a call at the end of the game, or a non-call."

Columbus 61, Bigfork 60

Bigfork's loss was especially disappointing considering the Vals held a 38-18 lead at halftime.

"The girls did a good job," Hansen said. "We played really hard and did some good things to get the lead."

Columbus trailed 20-12 after the first quarter, but their team made up for it in the second half as they outscored the Vals in both the third and fourth quarter.

"Defensively we seemed confused," Hansen said. "I don't know if we changed it up too much or what happened. Communication is always hard at the state level and the acoustics in Belgrade didn't help either."

Columbus was also able to do one big thing that Bigfork couldn't — sink its free-throw shots. Bigfork was just 15-for-33 in the foul ridden game, while Columbus was 17-for-23.

The biggest gap was seen in the fourth quarter when the Vals were given 17 attempts from the line and made just eight.

Columbus on the other hand had 11 shots from the line in the final frame and made all but one.

Quinci Paine led the charge for Bigfork with 22 points, including eight in the second quarter.

She was the most successful from the free-throw line for Bigfork, having made six of her seven shots.

Paine was also Bigfork's leading rebounder with nine boards.

Caitlin Charlebois, who was struggling with illness all weekend, put in 15 points for Bigfork in the form of three 3-pointers and six of her 10 free-throw attempts. Charlebois also contributed four assists.

Knoll put in 11 points for Bigfork, all but one of which she scored in the first half. She was just 1-for-7 from the free-throw line. Knoll had five of the team's 12 steals.

Fairfield 56, Bigfork 49

The Valkyries made a valid attempt to take down two-time defending state champions and this year's eventual second place team Fairfield in the first round of the Class B State Tournament on Thursday night, but they were unable to seal the deal and lost 56-49.

Fairfield outscored the worn-down Vals 21-12 in the final frame.

"When Fairfield put on the pressure, we didn't execute well," Hansen said.

"Fatigue set in and mentally we weren't in it. We didn't man-up on defense as well as we could have."

Bigfork used up most of its juice fighting its way back from a 20-10 deficit at the end of the first quarter.

In the second, Bigfork put up 15 points and held Fairfield to just two, giving the Vals a 25-22 lead at the half over the No. 2 seed from Northern B.

"We had a nice defensive plan going. We just couldn't sustain it," Hansen said. "They were able to figure out how to get around us and get some of their girls we weren't focusing on open to score."

The Vals added 12 to their total in the third quarter, and, although Fairfield scored 13, Bigfork still held the lead going into the fourth quarter.

"I don't think scoring was an issue at state for us," Hansen said. "It was defense. We can't give up 56 points one night and 61 the next and expect to be successful."

Knoll led the Vals with 19 points and Paine added 12. Charlebois had eight and Kailey Fierro scored six.

Paine led Bigfork in rebounding with 11 boards. Charlebois was the assists leader with four and had the most steals for Bigfork with three.

The Valkyries turned the ball over 23 times while Fairfield did so just 11 times.

Packing it in for the season

Although the Vals weren't able to get a win at the state tournament, they still had what they consider to be a successful season.

The Bigfork girls were undefeated against teams from District B during both the regular season and post season.

They won the District B Tournament and took second at the Western B Divisional Tournament.

This year's Vals also broke numerous team records including, most points in a game and most points in a season.

"I had a great time with them," Hansen said. "They were always willing to learn and they worked really hard. They were a lot of fun. They came to work every day. They knew the importance of working hard while having fun. They did a great job of that."

While the loss ends the Bigfork girls' season, all but three girls are expected to return next year.

The Vals will lose seniors Lila Cenis, Fierro and Holly MacFarlane.

"I'm really proud of Lila for the way she stepped up into Kailey's role earlier this year," Hansen said. "She really improved and did a great job for us. She's a great teammate and she is very uplifting.

"Kailey is an incredible talent. She has been a very hard worker for us in practice and in games. She came out every day to help everyone get better, even when she couldn't play.

"Holly didn't get a whole lot of time on varsity, but just watching her grow over the last two years has been great. She did a real nice job on the junior varsity for us and helped us out when we needed her on varsity."

As for the rest of the team, which is slated to have five seniors and three juniors return from this year's varsity lineup, they are already looking to next season.

"I thought they had a nice year," Hansen said of his girls. "They did a good job of working hard and staying focused. We just have to learn to finish games when we get the lead. Against Loyola, Fairfield and Columbus, we led going into the fourth before losing each of those games. As a coach I have to do a better job of explaining how we want to go about hanging on to the lead."