Glacier girls rally vs. Helena High; Bravettes lose to Missoula Sentinel

MISSOULA — No trends were bucked on the girls’ side of the Western AA Divisional, where Glacier joined the other three higher-seeded teams as first-round winners Thursday.

The Wolfpack did a rally to make up an nine-point fourth-quarter deficit, but prevailed for the third time this season over Helena, 52-49.

Aubrie Rademacher scored 15 points and grabbed 12 rebounds for the Wolfpack, which will face top-seeded Helena Capital (18-1) in Friday’s 6 p.m. semifinal. Capital thumped Missoula Big Sky 46-20 Thursday.

In the late games Missoula Sentinel outscored Butte 64-50 and Flathead fell to Missoula Hellgate 54-28.

Hellgate and Sentinel will play a crosstown semifinal at 7:30 p.m. Flathead (4-15) and Butte (7-12) have a loser-out game at 1:30 p.m.

Glacier 52, Helena 49

Glacier saw Helena forge a 25-22 halftime lead and then the Pack had a pretty disastrous third quarter: 10 turnovers and just two made shots. A 3-pointer by McKayla Kloker put the Bengals ahead 33-24 midway through the period, and a steal and layup from Mariah English made it 37-29 going into the fourth.

The Pack found its rhythm with some full-court pressure. By the end Glacier had made 21 steals.

“Every time we struggle we try to regroup and go back to what we do well,” Wolfpack coach Amanda Cram said. “And that’s applying pressure on the ball, transitioning and entering our offense as quickly as possible.

“Certainly there are things we didn’t do well. We did not match their intensity the first half, we did not rebound the ball well at all, but… what I’m most proud of is that our girls continued to battle for 32 minutes.”

Sidney Gulick’s 3-pointer got the fourth quarter started, and a basket from Kenzie Williams at the 3:45 mark brought Glacier to 41-40.

With 1:49 left a steal by Ellie Keller led to a point-blank shot by Rademacher. She missed but snared the rebound, was fouled and made two free throws.

Glacier was up 44-43 – its first lead since 12-9 late in the first quarter.

Williams added a steal and old-fashioned three-point play, and a free throw by Keller capped a 16-2 Glacier surge that made it 48-44 with :56 seconds remaining.

Williams finished with seven steals and seven points.

“She’s been a key player for us all year,” Cram said. “She’s not a top scorer by any means but she’s a defensive player first and she has a can-do attitude – I like her because she’s a little chippy and you need someone like that on your team. She certainly helped us get our momentum going the right direction.”

Keller had 10 points and four steals, and Kaylee Fritz added another 11 points.

Helena 13 12 12 12 - 49

Glacier 12 10 7 23 - 52

HELENA (8-11) – Rachel Plaster 0 1-2 1, McKayla Kloker 3 3-4 10, Alex Bullock 4 2-3 10, Riley Thennis 1 2-2 5, Kylie Lantz 2 3-6 7, Mariah English 1 0-0 2, Abby Marcille 2 1-2 5, Elizabeth Heuiser 1 0-0 2, Emily Feller 2 1-2 5. 10 (Totals 17 13-21 49.

GLACIER (10-9) – Kenzie Williams 1 5-5 7, Aubrie Rademacher 2 11-14 15, Emma Anderson 2 1-2 5, Ellie Keller 4 1-2 10, Kaylee Fritz 5 1-4 11, Sidney Gulick 1 0-0 2, Janessa Anderson 0 2-2 2, Aubry Grame 0 0-1 0, Allee Meyer 0 0-0 0. Totals 15 21-30 52.

3-point goals – Helena 2 (Kloker, Thennis), Glacier 1 (Keller). Rebounds – Helena 30 (Heuiser 11), Glacier 29 (Rademacher 12). Fouls – Helena 21, Glacier 17. Steals – Helena 10 (Thennis 4), Glacier 19 (Williams 7). Turnovers – Helena 24, Glacier 21.

Hellgate 54, Flathead 28

The length and speed of the Knights meant the Flathead Bravettes struggled to score.

Bailee Sayler led Hellgate with 14 points; 6-foot-4 Alex Covill added nine, as did sophomore point guard Addy Heaphy.

Kennedy McCorkle had a layup and a three in the fourth quarter as Hellgate’s lead grew to 51-15; the Bravettes nearly doubled their points in the final four minutes.

Freshman Maddy Moy scored eight points to lead Flathead, and came up with four steals. Akilah Kubi had six rebounds and Molly Winters grabbed seven boards.

Flathead 6 7 2 13 - 28

Hellgate 16 8 14 16 - 54

FLATHEAD (4-15) – Maddy Moy 2 3-4 8, Akilah Kubi 1 1-2 3, Clare Converse 2 0-0 4, Jenna Johnson 1 1-3 3, Molly Winters 2 0-1 4, Kuyra Siegel 0 0-0 0, Kennedy Kanter 1 0-1 2, Bridget Crowley 1 2-3 4, Rebecca Eacker 0 0-0 0. Totals 10 7-16 28.

MISSOULA HELLGATE (17-2) – Keke Davis 2 3-3 7, Bailee Sayler 5 2-2 14, Addy Heaphy 3 2-2 9, Lauren Dick 1 0-0 2, Perry Paffhausen 1 0-0 3, Kennedy McCorkle 2 2-2 7, Alex Covill 3 3-4 9, Austynn Covill 0 0-0 0, Hailey Flamand 1 0-0 3, Kinsey Henthorn 0 0-0 0, Izzy Hage 0 0-0 0. Totals 18 12-13 54.

3-point goals – Flathead 1 (Moy), Hellgate 6 (Sayler 2, Flamand, Heaphy, McCorkle, Paffhausen). Rebounds – Flathead 25 (Winters 7), Hellgate 27 (Al. Covill 6). Fouls – Flathead 13, Hellgate 17. Steals – Flathead 9 (Moy 4), Hellgate 11 (Davis 3). Turnovers – Flathead 18, Hellgate 12.

Western AA Divisional

March 5-7, Missoula Sentinel

Girls

Thursday

Helena Capital 46, Missoula Big Sky 20

Glacier 52, Helena 49

Missoula Sentinel 64, Butte 50

Missoula Hellgate 54, Flathead 28

Friday

Noon – Missoula Big Sky (0-19) vs. Helena (8-11), loser outv

1:30 p.m. – Butte (7-12) vs. Flathead (4-15), loser out

6 p.m. – Glacier (10-9) vs. Helena Capital (18-1), semifinal

7:30 p.m. – Missoula Sentinel (15-4) vs. Missoula Hellgate (17-2), semifinal