Another week of wins for Valkyries basketball, 7-1 record

Mission (St. Ignatius), Columbia Falls and Troy were no match for the Valkyries basketball team, who soundly beat all three last week and maintained their undefeated streak in District 7B play, scoring around 50 points a game.

After a shaky start against Mission that left the Vals down by eight at the beginning of the first quarter, the girls shook it off and came back to end the quarter 12-8. They held Mission to 28 more points and finished the game 50-36.

Valkyries head coach Mark Hansen said Mission gave them some problems inside, with a size advantage. But, Bigfork had a strong game inside as well, with post players Melissa VanDerveer and Tessa Robertson. VanDerveer hit a game high of 20 points and Robertson had nine.

“I thought our press was very effective,” Hansen said.

And it led to 14 steals against Mission last Tuesday, of which Mckinze Shults had six, 13 against Columbia Falls and 15 against Troy. Peck took the game high in steals against Columbia Falls with five, and stole six against Troy.

“Taylor had a great week on the defensive end,” Hansen said. “She just amped up her defense and I think it carried over to the other girls.”

In the Vals scrappy non-conference game against Columbia Falls on Thursday, Peck helped the offensive end of things as well, hitting six of nine from the free throw line and netting a total of 13 points.

The Class A Wildkats gave Bigfork a run on points from behind the three-point line and also out-rebounded them.

The Vals stepped it up and held off Columbia Falls 25-11 in the first half. The Kats came back and scored 27 in the second, but it wasn’t enough to stop the Bigfork win and the game ended 51-38.

VanDerveer put away 16, Robertson had 8.

“It’s always kind of a feather in your cap if you can compete against a class that’s higher than you,” Hansen said. “And you should always play with that kind of intensity.”

That intensity followed the girls into Friday’s game against Troy, where the Trojans scored just four points in three of the quarters and Bigfork won 51-19.

Peck scored 16 points, and VanDerveer and Robertson put up ten each. VanDerveer matched her scoring with ten rebounds, and Shults had seven assists and three points.

Hansen thought the girls hit their shots and rebounded better, but the number of turnovers per game needs to change.

“Fifteen to twenty extra possessions a game puts a lot of pressure on our defense,” he said.

So with six days off between games, the girls will put time into covering the ball better, shooting and rebounding.

Their next game is on Friday in Thompson Falls. On Sunday they stay home against Florence at 4:30 p.m.