Whitefish girls win, C-Falls tumbles at divisional

RONAN – Whitefish and Corvallis sprung upsets at the Western A Divisional girls basketball tournament Thursday, advancing to tonight’s first semifinal.

Whitefish surged ahead early and held off Dillon 41-37, while Corvallis topped Columbia Falls 50-32.

Both games were turnarounds from early December, when Columbia Falls beat the Blue Devils 58-34 and Whitefish dropped a 49-20 decision to Dillon.

The Bulldogs (8-12) will meet the Blue Devils (14-6) at 6:30 p.m. today. Dillon (13-6), the No. 1 seed out of the Southwestern A, and Columbia Falls (16-3) square off in a loser-out game at 12:30 p.m.

Friday’s 8 p.m. semifinal will be between Hamilton (13-6) and Frenchtown (11-9), which beat Browning 37-29 in the late game. Hamilton tripped Ronan 45-37. Ronan and Browning will play a loser-out game at 2 p.m.

Whitefish 41, Dillon 37

Taylor Means scored all of her seven points in the second quarter as Whitefish pushed out to an 18-12 lead, and Gracie Smyley hit two 3-pointers in the second half to help the Bulldogs stay up from there.

Jadi Walburn had a team-high 12 points for Whitefish. Smyley checked in with 10.

Dillon’s Ainsleigh Shipman scored 12 of her 14 points after halftime as the Beavers tried to rally.

Dillon 7 5 10 15 - 37

Whitefish 8 10 9 14 - 41

DILLON (13-6) – Tylia DeJean 9, Ainsley Shipman 14, Josey Jones 11, Kylee Pittman 3.

WHITEFISH (8-12) – Jadi Walburn 12, Payton Kastella 3, Mikenna Ells 5, Gracie Smyley 10, Hope Brown 4, Taylor Means 7.

Corvallis 50,

Columbia Falls 32

The second and fourth quarters were unkind to the Wildkats, who fell behind 26-15 at intermission and then saw Corvallis drain 7 of 10 free throws in the final eight minutes.

Isabel Evans’ 12 points led a balanced attack for the Blue Devils (14-6).

LaKia Hill scored 10 points to lead Columbia Falls.

Corvallis 10 16 11 13 - 50

C –Falls 9 6 11 6 - 32

CORVALLIS (14-6) – Isabel Evans 12, Hannah Hutchingson 11, Brooke Powell 9, Jenna Jordan 10, Ashlynn Nixon 4, Bree Lewis 2.

COLUMBIA FALLS (16-3) – Maddie Robison 6, LaKia Hill 10, Josie Windauer 8, GraceAnne Sevesind 2, Hannah Schweikert 4, Madyson Hoerner 2.

Western A Divisional

Feb. 27-29, Ronan

(4 teams advance to State)

Thursday

Corvallis 50, Columbia Falls 32

Whitefish 41, Dillon 37

Hamilton 45, Ronan 37

Frenchtown 37, Browning 29

Friday

12:30 p.m. — Columbia Falls (16-3) vs. Dillon (13-6), loser-out

2 p.m. — Ronan (12-8) vs. Browning (15-4), loser-out

6:30 p.m. — Corvallis (14-6) vs. Whitefish (8-12), semifinal

8 p.m. ­— Hamilton (13-6) vs. Frenchtown (11-9), semifinal