The ’Pack is headed back to state.

The Glacier girls (17-4 overall) held off Helena High (5-15) 43-38 at home on Thursday night in a Class AA playoff basketball game, to punch their second straight ticket to the state tournament. 

Scoring was at a premium for most of the game, though Glacier was able to find room for spurts. The Wolfpack opened the second half on a 9-2 run to retake the lead from the pesky Bengals and scored the first two buckets of the fourth to take its largest lead of the night at 36-29. 

But there was plenty of sloppy play as well. The Wolfpack rushed its offense early while trying to get the ball deep to center Cassi Hashley against Helena’s zone defense, often trying to fit a pass to the junior between three or four defenders. 

The Bengals defense forced Glacier into a run of bad play in the second quarter, scoring seven straight points to take a 17-13 lead. After a quick Glacier scoring run, the Bengals scored twice in the final 38 seconds of the half to lead 20-19 at the break.

Even in the fourth quarter, with the Wolfpack holding its largest lead of the night at 38-31, the Bengals were able to take advantage of the offensive glass to cut the lead down to three points with more than two minutes still to play.

“We were giving them opportunities,” Glacier coach Kris Salonen said. “We just had to take time and make them work a bit on defense.”

The Wolfpack guards calmed down in the second half, opening with a midrange jumper from Rachel Chery followed by a 3-on-1 break and a score off an inbounds pass. With the floor opening up, the team was able to find Hashley in the post, and get its offense flowing.

“They were doubling Cassi and we kinda forced it a lot,” Chery said. “We tried to force it in and Cassi was doubled, it was just a mess for a while. After a while we got back into it, we executed plays and came out with the win.”

Glacier may have also found another shooter off the bench in the contest. Sophomore guard Taylor Loomis provided a spark in her first extended action of the season. 

Coming in late in the first quarter, Loomis hit the Wolfpack’s first deep shot of the night, scoring from a step inside the 3-point line to end a 5-0 run by the Bengals. She hit another basket to start the second quarter and got a steal two possessions later that would have turned into another basket had she not been fouled. Loomis hit 1 of 2 free throws and finished with 5 points.

Chery led the Wolfpack with 12 points and Hashley had 10 points and nine rebounds. Dani Norling led Helena with 11 points.

Glacier will open at state in Great Falls with a first round game against Butte, the second seed from the East, on March 7. The Bulldogs beat Billings Skyview 52-36 on Thursday.

“This year we’ve made a lot of history,” Chery said. “We’re hoping to make history at state when we go.”

Helena71399—38

Glacier8111311—43

HELENA — Regan Fruh 3-5 3-5 9, Callie Kanthack 1-6 4-9 6, Shanna Floerchinger 3-7 0-0 6, Jessica Stockton 2-5 0-1 4, Dani Norling 3-4 2-4 11, Alicia Norling 1-2 0-0 2. Totals: 13-35 9-19 38.

GLACIER — Rachel Chery 4-7 4-4 12, Cassi Hashley 3-4 4-6 10, Hailee Bennett 1-2 1-3 3, Kailea Vaudt 2-6 0-1 4, Kirstyn Haugenoe 1-8 2-2 4, Taylor Loomis 2-3 1-2 5, Hannah Atlee 2-3 1-2 5. Totals: 15-37 13-20 43.

3-pointers — Helena 3-9 (D. Norling 3), Glacier 0-1. Rebounds — Helena 29 (Fruh 8), Glacier 27 (Hashley 9). Assists — Helena 2 (Kanthack, Stockton), Glacier 10 (Bennett 3, Vaudt 3). Blocks — Helena 4 (Four with one), Glacier 5 (Vaudt 3). Steals — Helena 12 (Kanthack 4), Glacier 12 (Hashley 4). Fouls — Helena 18, Glacier 15. Technical fouls — none. Fouled out — none.