LIBBY — Bigfork swept the District 7B basketball championships, the top-ranked Vikings holding form and the girls avenging a pair of regular season losses to pull of an upset.

The No. 8 Bigfork girls (16-4) built an early lead and ran away late to beat No. 6 Plains (15-5) 48-41 to earn their first tournament title since 2011.

The Valkyries created some separation in the first half of the physical contest, closing the second quarter on a 6-0 run while holding the Trotters scoreless for the final three minutes to build a 20-13 lead.

Plains narrowed the lead to just two points entering the fourth quarter and Bigfork led by just four points with three minutes to play, before pulling away at the end. The Vals scored on back-to-back possessions and led 43-35 with 1:47 to go, holding off a Plains charge to close the game.

Riley Coleman had 12 points and Lana Berg had 10 to lead Bigfork. Carley VonHeeder had 15 and Kayla Holmes 12 for Plains. The Vals held star Hailey Phillips to just two points.

“We switched defenses a little bit, put some pressure on,” Vals coach Mark Hansen said.

“The girls played great defense switching from man to zone. The girls came out focused and wanted it.”

With the win, the Vals earned a top seed in next week’s Western B divisional. They open against District 6B four seed Ronan at 11:20 a.m. on Thursday in Hamilton.

The top two teams from the divisional advance to the state tournament in Bozeman Mar. 13-15. Deer Lodge beat Loyola 48-35 to win the District 6B title and claim the other top seed.

In the boys final, Bigfork (20-0) fought off a sluggish start against Eureka (10-10) to win running away, 70-44.

Much of the team still suffering from an illness that swept through the locker room, the Vikings were slow to get going in the first quarter. It wasn’t until they were able to force a few turnovers and get in the open court that the offense started rolling.

Bigfork outscored the Lions 17-10 in the second quarter and 21-8 in the third to build a 58-28 lead before putting in the second string in the fourth quarter.

“We know that every team is going to come at us and play as hard as they can against us,” Vikings coach Josh Downey said.

“We went out and prepared. We took a punch and started punching back.”

The Vikings also earned a top seed for next week’s tournament, and will be playing St. Ignatius at 6 p.m. on Wednesday in Hamilton. Florence won the 6B title beating Loyola 38-36.

In other 7B tournament games Saturday, the Thompson Falls girls defeated Eureka 45-39 while the Plains boys edged Troy 55-52.

All four teams also advance to the Western B divisional.

Amanda Peterson scored 22 points to lead Eureka.

Gabe Hickman and Gage Tallmadge both scored 11 to pace Troy.

Boys

Championship

Eureka 10 10 8 16 — 44

Bigfork 20 17 21 12 — 70

EUREKA — Austin Perez 6, Chase Bohne 6, Dalton Smith 18, Myles Griffin 2, Trey Bohne 12.

BIGFORK — Adam Jordt 2, Cam Nissen 2, Christian Evans 13, Isaac Martel 14, Jon Landon 13, Josh Sandry 10, Kyle Thomson 7, Ryder Trent 4, Tyler Piazolla 5.

Consolation

Plains 17 10 18 10 — 55

Troy 12 12 11 17 — 52

PLAINS — Ryan Ovitt 13, Alec Cole 2, Aaron Baker 10, Kyle Revier 9, James Rulison 11, Wyatt Winebrenner 6, Brady Ovitt 4.

TROY — Luke Haggerty 10, Gabe Hickman 11, Gage Tallmadge 11, Ryan Huffman 3, Nathan Olds 2, Sean Opland 12, Bruce Metz 3.

Girls

Championship

Bigfork 7 13 9 19 — 48

Plains 9 4 14 14 — 41

BIGFORK — Riley Coleman 12, Mattison McAnally 5, Lana Berg 10, Josie Spoklie 6, Tessa Robertson 6, Miranda Campbell 9.

PLAINS — Kimberly Earhart 4, Sami Kinzie 2, Hailey Phillips 2, Carley VonHeeder 15, Kayla Holmes 12, Leah Thompson 6.

Consolation

Thompson Falls 16 6 9 14 — 45

Eureka 6 9 10 14 — 39

THOMPSON FALLS — Shey Hannum 11, Erica Sorlie 6, Madi Fichett 8, Angela Padden 6, Aubrey Hannum 8, Logan Beckman 6.

EUREKA — Charity Parsons 2, Nicole Anderson 4, Evynn Anderson 3, Amanda Peterson 22, S. Cooper 2, Jamie Soderling 6.