Glacier girls, boys advance to Western AA semis

by The Daily Inter Lake
| March 1, 2018 11:07 PM

HELENA — Glacier enjoyed great success defensively in its two regular-season meetings against Flathead.

Somehow, the Wolfpack improved on both performances in its opener at the Western AA girls divisional basketball tournament at Helena Capital High on Thursday night.

Glacier limited the Bravettes to their lowest scoring output of the season in a 30-20 first-round victory.

“We were active defensively,” Glacier head coach Bill Sullivan said. “We knew who their go-to people were. We made sure we had bodies on them at all times.”

Ellie Stevens poured in 12 points to key Glacier’s offensive effort. The Wolfpack scored 12 in the fourth quarter to pull away.

“(Stevens) was just being aggressive and getting after it,” Sullivan said. “It ended up being a good night for her.”

Mary Heaton posted 11 points for Flathead, but the Bravette offense as a whole struggled to get off the ground. Only four players found their way into the scorebook, and Flathead’s guards combined for only five points.

The Bravettes never eclipsed seven points in a single quarter.

Flathead now gets a day off before facing the loser of the Helena-Helena Capital matchup, which is scheduled for 8 p.m. today, in a loser-out game.

Glacier plays top-seeded Missoula Sentinel, which received a first-round bye, at 6:30 p.m. today. The Wolfpack split with the Spartans in the regular season, dropping the first meeting before winning the second 41-39 on Anna Schrade’s buzzer beater.

“It’s going to be a challenge,” Sullivan said. “They’re going to want to show everybody that what happened a week ago wasn’t their style.”

Flathead 5 4 4 7 — 20

Glacier 6 8 4 12 — 30

Flathead: Mary Heaton 11, Taylor Henley 4, Clara Vandenbosch 3, Emily Lembke 2.

Glacier: Ellie Stevens 12, Kali Gulick 8, Anna Schrade 4, Alivia Atlee 4, Raley Shirey 2.

Boys

Glacier 51, Helena Capital 36

HELENA — Glacier stifled Helena Capital early and shot lights-out from the field to win its Western AA divisional opener at Helena High.

The Wolfpack limited the Bruins to 15 points in the first half, including just five points in the first quarter, to stake itself to an early lead.

Capital stood little chance of overcoming its early deficit due to Glacier’s hot shooting performance. The Wolfpack knocked down 61.3 percent of its shots in the game and a staggering 83.3 percent of its attempts in the second half.

Brec Rademacher led the offensive charge with 21 points. He enjoyed a very nice night from 3-point range, knocking down 6 of 9 attempts from beyond the arc. His six 3s left him one short of his own single-game school record.

“He’s got a quick release, and he doesn’t need a bunch of room,” Glacier head coach Mark Harkins said.

Kody Jarvis tallied 10 for Glacier, which downed Capital for the third time this year.

The Wolfpack now gets another shot at Missoula Sentinel, which defeated Glacier twice in the regular season. The Spartans bested Glacier 66-59 in Missoula and 65-62 in Kalispell.

Sam Beighle, the state’s leading scorer, posted a combined 70 points in the two games, and Harkins said whether Glacier can slow him would determine whether it can reverse its regular-season luck.

“How do you stop Sam? We’ve got to figure it out,” Harkins said. “I’m excited to play them.”

Glacier 12 11 12 16 — 51

Helena 5 10 11 10 — 36

GLACIER: Caden Harkins 1, Collin Kazmier 2, Brec Rademacher 21, Kody Jarvis 10, Drew Engellant 6, Alex Whitman 5, Nick Whitman 6.

HELENA CAPITAL: Matt McGinley 2, Brady Martin 5, Cade Kidder 10, Michael Nettleton 2, Mark Northey 7, Shane Haller 4, Trevor Swanson 6.

Helena 60, Flathead 55

HELENA — The long ball killed Flathead again.

Less than three weeks after Helena downed the Braves thanks to 10 3-pointers, Flathead knocked down four to the Bengals’ eight in a narrow Western AA divisional loss.

The Braves made just 4 of their 18 attempts from beyond the arc (22.2 percent), while Helena hit 8 of 19 (42.1 percent).

Fueled by Tyler Johnson’s 20 points and eight rebounds, Flathead made a late push with 24 points in the final eight minutes. It wasn’t enough, however, to overcome scoring only 31 in the first three quarters combined.

Sam Elliott contributed 13 points and nine rebounds to the Braves’ effort. Eric Seaman scored 10 on a rough shooting night.

Six of Helena’s eight 3s were provided by Connor Murgel and Alex Johnson, who combined for 28 points.

Flathead must now win back-to-back games to keep its season — and its state title aspirations — alive.

The Braves face Missoula Big Sky, which they defeated by large margins in both regular-season meetings, today at 5 p.m. in a loser-out game. With a win, Flathead would move on to play the loser of today’s Glacier-Missoula Sentinel contest in a loser-out matchup Saturday with a trip to state on the line.

Helena 11 16 11 22 — 60

Flathead 10 12 9 24 — 55

HELENA: Dawson Tedesco 11, Caleb Ferguson 6, Hayden Ferguson 15, Alex Johnson 12, Connor Murgel 16.

FLATHEAD: Seth Moon 2, Eric Seaman 10, Tyler Johnson 20, Sam Elliott 13, Andrew Siderius 1, Anthony Jones 3, Dawson Smith 6.

sme school record.