Kats edge Valkyries, hammer Lady Pirates

The roll continues. The Columbia Falls girls basketball team added two more wins to its season tally last week, beating Bigfork 56-44 away Feb. 5 and hammering hapless Polson 67-22 at home Feb. 7.

Against the Bigfork, the Wildkats shot out to a 13-point lead in the first half, but the Valkyries outscored the Kats 28-24 in the second half to make a game of it.

Kiara Burlage had her best game of the year with 17 points and 15 rebounds. Ciera Finberg had 12. Cydney Finberg had seven assists.

The Kats shot just 27 percent against Bigfork.

“But they found a way to survive it and get a win against a good basketball team,” coach Cary Finberg said.

Against Polson, the Kats posted a 22-3 first-quarter lead and never looked back. Finberg had 24 in the rout, Winter Kemppainen had 13, and Peyton Kehr had 10.

The Kats are doing a great job sharing the ball. In both games, seven Kats were in the scoring column. The Kats shot much better against Polson, going 9 for 18 on treys, shooting 52 percent overall from the field. They had just 12 turnovers, while forcing 27. Cydney had six assists, Miranda Livingston had five assists and five steals.

Columbia Falls faces Whitefish on Saturday. The girls are 15-1 and 6-0 in conference play — the best record among Class A schools in the state.

Columbia Falls 16 13 11 16 — 56

Bigfork 6 10 15 13 — 44

COLUMBIA FALLS — Ciera Finberg 12, Cydney Finberg 7, Ellie Johnson 9, Winter Kemppainen 7, Miranda Livingston 1, Kiara Burlage 17, Sydney Hovde 3.

BIGFORK — Marissa Hiza 4, Riley Coleman 3, Jaime Berg 16, Katie Thomas 10, Lana Berg 8, Miranda Campbell 3.

Polson 3 9 8 2 — 22

Columbia Falls 22 14 20 11 — 67

POLSON — Skyla Krantz 2, Lauren Lefthand 7, Dylan Quinn 1, Nichole Lake 2, Erin Sampson 6, Payton Anderson 4.

COLUMBIA FALLS — Ciera Finberg 24, Sydney Grilley 2, Hailey Peacock 3, Cydney Finberg 8, Ellie Johnson 7, Peyton Kehr 10, Winter Kemppainen 13.