Valkyries bounce back from loss to crush Troy

Miranda Campbell led balanced offensive display by Bigfork with her season-high 19 points as the Valkyries cruised to a 71-37 victory over Troy at home on Friday.

The win came just a day after a tough loss to the Class A top ranked and undefeated Columbia Falls girls, who beat the Valkyries 74-34 in Columbia Falls.

Bigfork came out strong against Columbia Falls, but ran out of gas trying to keep up.

The Vals stayed close to the Wildkats for the first quarter and were down six points going into the second quarter. But the second quarter was Columbia Falls strongest of the game as they scored 23 points and held Bigfork to six. 

The Wildkats out- rebounded Bigfork 33-17 and forced 26 turnovers to further seal their victory.

“It was a tough loss,” head coach Jami Grende said on Friday. “It was nice to have a win like this tonight.”

While Campbell led in scoring against Troy, Lana Berg also had a stellar showing scoring 16 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. Overall Bigfork just outmatched Troy, in size and experience. 

“We kind of took advantage of our size underneath the basket,” Grende said.

Mattison McAnally and Marissa Hiza also broke into the double digits on scoring with 13 and 12 respectively.

The Vals hit the road this week visiting Eureka on Tuesday and Florence on Saturday.

Bigfork 71, Troy 37

Troy 10 10 9 8 — 37

Bigfork 18 17 15 21 — 71

TROY — Aurora Becquart 10, Haley Hickman 2, Allie Coldwell 13, Kaitlyn Downey 4, Allie Brown 8.

BIGFORK — Haile Norred 2, Marissa Hiza 12, Reese Nissen 4, Jaime Berg 5, Mattison McAnally 13, Lana Berg 16, Miranda Campbell 19.

Columbia Falls 74, Bigfork 34

Bigfork 12 6 6 10 — 34

Columbia Falls 18 23 14 19 — 74

BIGFORK — Marissa Hiza 3, Jordan Heavirland 2, Mattison McAnally 2, Katie Thomas 12, Lana Berg 6, Miranda Campbell 9.

COLUMBIA FALLS — Summer Burlage 4, Ciera Finberg 20, Sydney Gilley 2, Haylie Peacock 1, Hannah Freeman 2, Cydney Finberg 2, Ellie Johnson 7, Keavyn Baker 3, Peyton Kehr 8, Winter Kemppainen 13, Miranda Livingston 4, Allyson Gimbel 7, Sydney Hovde 1.