When the Glacier girls tip off at 6 p.m. tonight at home in a basketball playoff against Helena High, the third-seeded Wolfpack won’t need to look too far back for motivation to bring its A-game against the sixth-seeded Bengals.

Just two weeks ago, the Wolfpack (16-4 overall) needed a double-digit comeback and overtime to shake off the pesky Bengals (5-14). A bad performance tonight would send Glacier home for the rest of the year.

“We hope we’re at the point where we’re playing the best basketball we can,” Glacier coach Kris Salonen said. “But, you know the way these playoff games go. It’s not a given. You’ve got to step on the court and be ready to compete.

“Watching film, we didn’t play bad, we just didn’t have shots that went down. We struggled offensively at times and they had a lot of things that went well their way.”

The Wolfpack responded with a pair of wins over Flathead and Hellgate last week. Helena lost its only game last week, to Missoula Sentinel.

Glacier won the first contest fairly easily, though the Bengals made it close down the stretch. The Wolfpack led by 13 points entering the fourth quarter before giving up 15 points in the final frame to win by seven.

Junior center Cassi Hashley had big performances in each game, scoring 19 points and pulling in at least 13 rebounds in each. The Wolfpack defense was also able to keep a lid on speedy point guard Callie Kanthack, who along with post Regan Fruh, leads Helena in scoring.

Glacier would be the fifth team to punch its ticket to state with a win, joining Helena Capital and Billings West, which won playoff games earlier this week, and top seeds Sentinel and Great Falls High. The Wolfpack made it to the state tournament for the first time last season.

“We’ve gotten this far,” Salonen said. “Hopefully they’ll come with the right mindset and get ready to compete. We’ve worked this hard this season, we’re not ready for our season to end.”