Valkyries win Western B Divisional Championship, prepare for state tourney
The girls basketball Western B divisional championship matchup at Flathead High School on Friday looked a little familiar, as Bigfork and Plains faced off for the fourth time this season.
Led by a fired up Mattison McAnally the Valkyries took down Plains 43-34 to clinch the divisional title, and secure their trip to the State tournament March 12-14 in Great Falls.
Plains let Bigfork in the first quarter outscoring the Vals 12-7, but Bigfork took the lead in the second with a put back from Lana Berg at the buzzer giving the Vals a two-point lead at the half. The Vals stayed just ahead of the Trotters for the remainder of the game.
McAnally had 17 points, six rebounds and three steals in the championship game.
“Mattie McAnally played out of her mind on Friday,” head coach Jami Grende said. “I knew we could do it, but man, they sure don’t make it easy on us that’s for sure.”
Plains will also move on to the state tournament on the opposite side of the bracket. The Valkyries split regular season wins with Plains, losing one 64-62 and winning another 37-36. Bigfork and Plains faced off again at the district tournament where Bigfork came out on top.
“It’s pretty neat to see two teams come out of our conference,” Grende said. “That’s pretty cool.”
The Vals have about a week to prepare before facing the third-place team from the southern division, whose tournament is this weekend.
Grende said she’s looking forward to practices and fine tuning skills, now that the team achieved their goal of making it to state, something she said, not all of the girls thought they could do at the start of the season.
“We set this goal at the beginning of the year, you know it would be nice to make it to the state tournament,” she said. “I don’t know that everyone felt like we could achieve this goal. We’re one of the top eight teams in the state and that’s pretty good.”
Grende is looking forward to seeing some new teams in the state tournament and feels confident if the Vals play with the same kind of fire McAnally did in the divisional championship, they will do well.
“We should win some games,” she said. “We are capable of doing just that. We have every tool in the toolbox, it’s just a matter of getting all those tools to work together. Of course I want them to win every game, but I just want them to represent Bigfork. I just want them to go there and play well.”
The Vals defeated Missoula Loyola Sacred Heart 44-36 on Thursday in the divisional semifinal. The Bigfork girls continued to show their capability to come from behind after being down 12-7 at the end of the first quarter and down 18-14 at halftime.
Miranda Campbell hit a bunny at the buzzer of the third quarter to bring the Vals within one. The Vals were still down 31-29 with 5:13 left in the game, but pulled ahead 34-32 with 3:39 left. Loyola tied it up 36-36 with 2:17 left. Katie Thomas sank a 3-pointer to give the Vals a 3 point lead.
Loyola had the ball with :50 left, up three. Campell made some shots to extend the lead and free throws from Marissa Hiza sealed the deal.
Bigfork hit a 3-pointer and made five free throws in the final two minutes to complete the comeback.
Lana Berg had 13 points against Loyola.
In the first round of the divisional on Wednesday the Valkyries defeated Florence 68-48.
Campbell led Bigfork’s offensive display with a 16-point performance. She was followed closely by Jamie Berg and Riley Coleman with 11 each. McAnally and Lana Berg both added 10.
The 68 points was a season team high despite a typical slow start that had Bigfork up just 9-5 after the first eight minutes.
“We always do that,” Grende said of slow starts.
“I don’t know what it is about this team. I wish I knew. But tonight was a little better than it has been.”
Jamie Berg, a freshman forward, gave Bigfork’s offense a boost by scoring eight of the team’s 15 points in the second quarter. That put the Valkyries up 24-16 at the break.
Coleman hit two key threes in the first half and finished the night going 3 for 3 behind the arc.
Bigfork had things rolling in the second half, outscoring the Falcons 44-32.
Campbell and Lana Berg were unstoppable inside thanks to the soft touch passing of McAnally.
McAnally, who finished with five assists, hit Campbell on a fast break basket with a beautiful bounce pass off the dribble in the third quarter to put Bigfork on top, 41-27.
She followed that with a three-quarter court lob pass to Campbell for another easy layup.
Bigfork pushed its advantage to 47-27 after three quarters.
Florence, however, had one final gasp.
The Flacons slipped to within 13, down 54-41 near the four-minute mark.
McAnally, who was 6 for 6 at the charity line, hit both shots, and was in the right spot for a rebound after a missed shot in the paint by Lana Berg on the next trip down the court for an easy putback. That pushed Bigfork’s lead back up to 17 with just over three minutes remaining.
“I wanted to get it into Miranda more and Mattie did a good job of putting it in there,” Grende said of the second half.
Bigfork outrebounded Florence 43-36.
Bigfork was 25 of 55 from the field went 19 of 32 at the charity line.
Florence was 14 of 50 shooting. The Falcons were 17 of 31 at the free-throw line.
Western B Divisional Championship
Bigfork 43, Plains 34
Bigfork 7 12 9 15 — 43
Plains 12 5 5 12 — 34
BIGFORK — Marissa Hiza 1 0-0 3, Riley Coleman 1 5-11 7, Jaime Berg 1 0-0 2, Mattison McAnally 5 5-7 17, Katie Thomas 0 1-2 1, Lana Berg 3 1-2 7, Miranda Campbell 3 0-1 6. Totals: 14 12-23 43.
PLAINS — Sami Kinzie 1 0-2 2, Carley Vonheeder 0 2-2 2, Hailey Phillips 6 3-8 15, Kayla Holmes 3 0-0 6, Jessica Thompson 0 2-2 2, Leah Thompson 3 1-2 7. Totals: 13 8-16 34.
Western B Divisional semifinal
Bigfork 44, Loyola 36
Bigfork 7 7 13 17 — 44
Loyola 12 6 10 8 — 36
BIGFORK — Marissa Hiza 8, Jaime Berg 4, Mattie McAnally 5, Katie Thomas 5, Lana Berg 13, Miranda Campbell 9.
LOYOLA — Olina Rand 2, Mikayla Schreiar 2, Tessa Burke 10, Kelsey Tinte 5, Sami Worster 5, Bicolee Kolar 2, Kayla Resner 10
Western B Divisional first-round
Bigfork 68, Florence 48
Florence 5 11 11 21 — 48
Bigfork 9 15 21 23 — 68
FLORENCE — Kourtney Kohlman 5 2-3 14, Autumn Round 3 4-10 10, Ally Rust 2 3-4 7, Jade Zeiler 0 2-2 2, Chloe Arthur 3 1-4 7, Alexis Taulbee 1 3-4 6, Meghan St. Germain 0 2-4 2.
BIGFORK — Marissa Hiza 2 2-2 6, Riley Coleman 4 0-0 11, Mattison McAnally 2 6-6 10, Katie Thomas 1 2-2 4, Lana Berg 4 2-4 10, Jamie Berg 4 3-6 11, Miranda Campbell, 6 4-12 16.
David Lesnick, the Daily Inter Lake, and Sally Finneran, the Bigfork Eagle contributed to this report.