Glacier batters Butte
Sam Campbell Daily Inter Lake | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 10 years, 1 month AGO
The Glacier Wolfpack girls basketball roster has six players listed 6-feet or taller.
The Butte Bulldogs have none.
That was just one of the many obstacles the Bulldogs faced in Glacier’s 66-27 home nonconference rout on Tuesday night.
Butte (0-2) shot 29 percent from the field, committed 21 turnovers and 17 fouls while Glacier relentlessly exploited the Bulldogs’ weaknesses.
The Wolfpack (2-1) outrebounded the Bulldogs 37-13 with sophomore Nikki Krueger grabbing a game-high eight boards.
Despite committing nine fouls in the first quarter, Butte trailed by six points after the opening period, but in the second quarter the Wolfpack caught fire.
Glacier was determined to run Butte out of the gym, scoring 14 points off fast breaks while navigating a 21-1 run that lasted five-and-a-half minutes.
“I challenged the girls and said, ‘Let’s get some transition buckets tonight,’ because that was one of the things we didn’t do very well last week,” Glacier coach Kris Salonen said.
“It makes it more fun as a team to be able to do the transition play, but then to be able to execute our offense in the second half.”
Butte scored six consecutive points in the second quarter, all coming in the final two-and-a-half minutes, but Katie Wiley drained a 3-pointer at the buzzer and the Wolfpack went into the break with a commanding 39-15 lead.
Junior guard Hailee Bennett scored 12 of her game-high 16 points in the second half, finishing 2 for 3 from behind the arc and scoring the first seven points of the fourth quarter. She added seven assists and three steals to pace the Wolfpack.
“(Hailee) just has that mindset that ‘nobody is going to guard me. I’m going to shoot the ball and you’re going to pay a price for it,’” Salonen said.
“It’s so nice to have that leadership from her and the girls are really starting to jump on her back. We just got to keep that going somehow.”
Wiley, a senior, finished 11 points and six rebounds, and the Krueger sisters, Tessa and Nikki, each scored eight points off the bench for the Wolfpack
“We really needed that. I think we did,” Salonen said of the victory.
“We struggled against Great Falls High last week, but came back and played pretty solid against Whitefish. But anytime you have an opportunity to play another AA school, we took advantage of trying to get better tonight and we really needed it.”
Glacier heads into the holiday break before opening Western AA play on Jan. 2 with a trip to Missoula to take on the Sentinel Spartans at 4:15 p.m.
Butte 9 6 6 6 — 27
Glacier 15 24 20 7 — 66
BUTTE — Lexi Murphy 0-3 2-6 2, Ellie Hoffenbacker 1-3 0-2 2, McKaul Ori 3-6 1-3 8, Maria Micheloth 5-8 2-5 12, Abby Dodge 0-2 1-1 1, Kass Caprera 1-6 0-0 2. Totals 10-34 6-17 27.
GLACIER — Katie Wiley 5-6 0-1 11, Ali Williams 2-4 2-2 6, Brielle Bumgarner 3-4 0-1 6, Taylor Salonen 2-9 3-4 7, Hailee Bennett 7-13 0-0 16, Zoee Boschee 2-3 0-0 4, Tessa Krueger 3-5 2-3 8, Nikki Krueger 2-2 4-5 8.
3-point goals — Butte 1-6 (Ori 1-4) Glacier 3-5 (Bennett 2-3, Wiley 1-1). Rebounds — Butte 13 (Micheloth 4) Glacier 37 (N. Krueger 8). Steals — Butte 8 (Ori 2, Micheloth 2, Dodge 2). Glacier 13 (Salonen 3, Bennett 3, Boschee 3). Assists — Butte 3 (Murphy 1, Ori 1, Micheloth 1) Glacier 13 (Bennett 7). Blocks — Butte 2 (Ori, Dodge) Glacier 2 (N. Krueger, T. Krueger). Turnovers — Butte 21, Glacier 17. Fouls — Butte 17, Glacier 19. Fouled out — None.
ARTICLES BY SAM CAMPBELL DAILY INTER LAKE
Valkyries repeat as district champions
Another year, another district title for the Bigfork Valkyries.
Outlaws baseball roster taking shape
Cracking bats and popping gloves resonated throughout Memorial Park on Saturday as the Glacier Outlaws kicked off their preseason training just five days away from the inaugural season of the Mount Rainier Professional Baseball League.
Grizzlies baseball names managers
The Glacier Grizzlies of the newly formed Mount Rainier Professional Baseball League put another piece of the puzzle into place as Grizzlies general manager Bob Lockman named Mike Goss field manager for the inaugural 2015 season on Thursday.