The Glacier girls led the whole game, but were never able to pull away from a scrappy Stillwater Christian team, holding off the Cougars 50-43 in a nonconference basketball contest on Friday night at Glacier High School.

The Wolfpack opened up a 6-0 lead and held Stillwater without a field goal for the first five minutes of the game, leading 13-5 after the first quarter. 

But the Cougars kept reeling them in. Stillwater went on a 6-0 run to start the second to close the gap to two points. Trailing by 11 midway throught the third quarter, the Cougars ripped off a 12-2 run that would cut the lead again, this time to 31-30 with less than a minute to play in the quarter. 

Glacier always extended the lead, but couldn’t get away. The Wolfpack weren’t able to salt the game away until a pair of Hailee Bennett free throws with 45 seconds left finally got the game back to a three-score lead without enough time to come back.

“They were definitely ready, they came to play,” Glacier coach Kris Salonen said. “They just never went away.”

Morgan Paolini scored a game-high 17 points to lead Stillwater, getting to the basket frequently, whether on the break or with baseline drives. Sarah Paolini scored 11 for the Cougars. 

“They played with all their heart,” Stillwater coach Denise Topp said.  “I couldn’t ask any more from them. They were excited to play and came out and played ball.”

Cassi Hashley led Glacier with 12 points and 13 rebounds. Rachel Chery scored 11 for the Wolfpack, which struggled shooting as a team. Glacier shot just 25 percent from the field, just 19 percent in the first half. 

“There were spurts where we couldn’t score, we just missed,” Salonen said. “You’re gonna get games like that where you don’t shoot the ball very well. But we missed a lot of easy buckets.

“When you shoot 25 percent you’re lucky to win.”

Glacier (7-2) gets back into conference play next week with a road trip to the Helena schools, playing Helena High on Friday and Capital on Saturday.

Stillwater (10-2) heads back to Glacier on Tuesday to play the Wolfpack junior varsity. 

Stillwater5111413—43

Glacier1312916—50

STILLWATER — Morgan Paolini 7-12 3-3 17, Sarah Paolini 5-13 1-3 11, McKenzie Hemp 2-12 0-0 4, Jordan Danz 3-9 2-6 8, Kathryn Jentz 0-0 2-2 2, Serena Koch 0-2 1-2 1. Totals: 17-51 9-16 43.

GLACIER — Rachel Chery 4-11 3-7 11, Cassi Hashley 4-10 4-6 12, Hailee Bennett 2-10 3-5 7, Kailea Vaudt 2-10 3-6 8, Kirstyn Haugenoe 2-13 0-0 6, Hannah Atlee 1-3 0-0 2, Katie Wiley 1-7 2-2 4. Totals: 16-64 15-26 50.

3-pointers — SCS 0-11, Glacier 3-13 (Haugenoe 2). Rebounds — SCS 41 (S. Paolini 13), Glacier 54 (Hashley 13). Assists — SCS 5 (Hemp 3), Glacier 11 (Bennett 4). Blocks — SCS 1 (Danz), Glacier 4 (Wiley 3). Steals — SCS 7 (S. Paolini, Hemp, Koch 2), Glacier 15 (Vaudt, Wiley 3). Fouls — SCS 21, Glacier 19. Technical fouls — none. Fouled out — Jentz.