Glacier held off a resilient Helena High squad to win 44-42 at home on Friday in a Western AA conference girls basketball game.

The Wolfpack (10-3 overall, 4-1 Western AA), who led by six points with a minute remaining in the game, needed a block from sophomore forward Taylor Salonen in the closing seconds to prevent overtime after a late surge from the Bengals (6-8, 1-5).

Helena senior guard Callie Kanthack, who led the Bengals with 10 points and eight rebounds, put back a missed attempt from a teammate with 58 seconds remaining to cut a seemingly comfortable lead to 44-40. Rebounding a missed Glacier free throw the next trip down the court, Helena post Regan Fruh drove to the basket and made a shot over Glacier senior Cassi Hashley to narrow the score to 44-42 with 32 seconds to play.

After stealing an inbounds pass seconds later, Helena had 18.4 seconds to draw up a play to win the game, or send it to overtime. Instead, Glacier’s defense locked down, forcing a bad 3-point shot before Salonen ripped away a shot attempt in the closing seconds to seal the win.

“We knew we had some fouls to give, so we thought we’d get up and in their face,” Glacier coach Kris Salonen said of the final sequence. “We thought they’d call (a foul). They never did.

“Then they got the shot off, and we got the rebound. Huge rebound by (Taylor) in securing it.”

Glacier was in control for most of the game, but was unable to run away with the contest dealing with turnovers and an uncharacteristic trouble securing rebounds. The Bengals outrebounded Glacier 31-30.

“We didn’t really secure our rebounds tonight,” Kris Salonen said. “We’d get it, but they’d pester you on the boards. That’s something we have to make sure we don’t let happen again.”

The Wolfpack had success getting the ball to Hashley in the post, who had another double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds to lead Glacier. Sophomore guard Hailee Bennett also fueled the offense with drives to the basket, getting to the free-throw line late where she made 6 of 7 to finish with 17 points.

Glacier doesn’t have much time to recover from the nailbiter, hosting No. 1 Capital (12-1, 6-0) this afternoon in a chance to pick up a statement win.

“You have to take everything that happened tonight and think about it and fix it for tomorrow,” Kris Salonen said.

“Most importantly, we have to come ready to play. We know Capital’s gonna come. If we don’t come to compete tomorrow, we’re going to find ourselves in trouble.”

The game against the Bruins is scheduled to tip at 1:45 p.m. at Glacier.

Helena 12 11 5 14 — 42

Glacier 11 14 7 12 — 44

HELENA — Jenna Starke 3-6 1-1 7, Regan Fruh 1-5 0-4 2, Callie Kanthack 5-10 0-1 10, Alyssa Ferguson 1-6 0-0 3, Shannon Floerchinger 1-6 0-0 2, Jessica Stockton 3-5 1-2 7, Paityn Floerchinger 2-3 0-1 5, Alexis Danz 2-7 2-2 6. Totals: 18-48 4-11 42.

GLACIER — Katie Wiley 2-6 1-2 5, Cassi Hashley 7-8 3-6 17, Hailee Bennett 5-13 6-7 17, Taylor Loomis 1-7 0-0 3, Katie Thomas 1-3 0-0 2-2. Totals: 16-45 10-16 44.

3-pointers — Helena 2-7 (Ferguson 1-5, P. Floerchinger 1-1), Glacier 2-10 (Bennett 1-5, Loomis 1-2). Rebounds — Helena 31 (Kanthack 8), Glacier 30 (Hashley 10). Assists — Helena 5 (Kanthack 3), Glacier 7 (Loomis 2). Blocks — Helena 5 (S. Floerchinger 3), Glacier 7 (Hashley 3). Steals — Helena 12 (Kanthack 3, S. Floerchinger 3), Glacier 11 (Hannah Atlee 4). Fouls — Helena 15, Glacier 12. Fouled out — none. Technical fouls — none.