Girls now 9-0; showdown with Sentinel is Saturday

The Columbia Falls girls basketball team extended their winning streak to nine games last week. They downed Libby at home Friday 68-28 and dumped Polson at home Saturday, 62-16.

In both games, the girls shot out to early leads and never looked back. Against the Lady Loggers the Wildkats were up 22-6 after the first quarter while it was an 18-5 advantage over Polson in the first.

Cydney Finberg led the Kats with 14 against Libby and Kiara Burlage, who has proven to be the rock all season long, had 19 against Polson. Guard Miranda Livingston had her best game of the season against Libby with 13.

Finberg also had four rebounds and six steals against Libby. The Kats forced 26 Libby turnovers and had just 11 of their own.

Against Polson, the Kats shot 53 percent to the Pirate’s 17 percent.

“We’ve been on a pretty good stretch,” said coach Cary Finberg. The girls set the tone defensively and then every night someone different leads them in scoring.

The competition gets much tougher this Saturday at home when the girls square off against Missoula Sentinel — the No. 1 ranked AA school in the state. Sentinel beat Glacier by 15 earlier this year, while the Kats beat Glacier by nine. If that can be taken as a litmus test, Saturday’s game should be a regular season barn burner. Game time is 5:30 p.m.

“It’s going to be fun for our girls,” Finberg said. “If we play like we’re capable of, we can win this game.”

The girls play conference foe Whitefish at home Thursday at 7:30 p.m.

Libby 6 5 10 7 — 28

C. Falls 22 20 20 6 — 68

LIBBY—Madison Monigold 2, Abby Enenga 2, Jayden Winslow 11, Shannon Reny 13.

COLUMBIA FALLS—Sydney Grilley 3, Cydney Finberg 14, Ellie Johnson 3, Peyton Kehr 6, Riley Kehr 2, Miranda Livingston 13, Kiara Burlage 10, Allyson Gimbel 7, Trista Collin 2, Sydney Hovde 8.

Polson 5 5 3 3 — 16

Columbia Falls 18 20 16 8 — 62

POLSON — Nichole Lake 6, Lauren Lefthand 5, Marlee Congdon 2, Mollie Fisher 2, Clarke 1.

COLUMBIA FALLS — Kiara Burlage 19, Cydney Finberg 9, Allyson Gimbel 8, Sydney Hovde 8, Ellie Johnson 6, Peyton Kehr 6, Miranda Livingston 3, Sydney Grilley 3.