HELENA — Hailee Bennett scored 17 points and the No. 2 Glacier girls nearly erased a 16-point deficit before falling to No. 1 Helena Capital 45-39 in a Western AA basketball game on Friday.

Glacier (11-2 overall, 4-1) rallied after falling behind 27-16 at half to cut the deficit to 35-33 with 6:22 to play, but couldn’t close the game completely.

With both Bennett and backcourt mate Taylor Salonen fouling out, the Bruins closed the game on a 10-6 run.

McKenzie Johnston had 18 points to lead Capital (10-1, 6-0) and Tjaden Pallister had 10.

Glacier 11 5 13 10 — 39

Capital 18 9 8 10 — 45

GLACIER — Taylor Salonen 7, Hailee Bennett 17, Katie Wiley 7, Tessa Krueger 6, Ali Williams 2; Total 39

CAPITAL — Tjaden Pallister 10, Mary Bryggman 4, Madison Quick 3, Rayna Pilgeram 3, Cassidy Burk 0, Abigail Witham 3, Kyra Dawes 2, McKenzie Johnston 18, Savanna Bignell 2; Total 45

3-pointers - Gla 2, CHS 6; Fouled out - Bennett, Salonen

Helena High 55,

Flathead 50

HELENA — Kylee Meredith scored 19 points and Janae Moon, Tiana Johnson and Taryn Gutierez all had seven apiece as Flathead came up five-points short against Helena High in a Western AA contest.

The Bravettes (3-10, 0-4) and Helena (4-9, 1-4) battled back and forth in the first half with the Bengals leading at intermission, 24-22.

Helena outscored Flathead 17-10 to get some breathing room before Flathead closed with an 18-point fourth quarter.

Flathead 12 10 10 18 — 50

Helena High 11 13 17 14 — 55

FLATHEAD — Kylee Meredith 7 3-4 19, Janae Moon 3 0-1 7, Stephanie Wilson 0 4-4 4, Johanna Lembke 0 0-2 0, Tiana Johnson 1 4-4 7, Jessica Simmons 2 1-2 6, Taryn Gutierez 3 1-1 7. Totals 16 13-18 50.

HELENA HIGH — Starke 2 1-2 5, Crawford 3 2-3 9, P. Floerchinger 4 0-0 9, Ferguson 3 1-2 7, Hillborn 0 1-2 1, S. Floerchinger 4 3-5 12, Krantz 3 2-3 9, Dunlap 1 1-1 3. Totals 20 11-18 55.

Libby 37, Whitefish 29

LIBBY — Libby needed a strong second half to upend Whitefish in a Northwestern A battle.

Whitefish held a 21-16 lead at the half, but Libby outscored the Bulldogs 21-7 in the second half to claim the win.

Hailey Craig tallied 10 points for Libby. She did all of her scoring in the final half, hitting a pair of 3s and going 4 for 4 at the free-throw line.

Allie Schulz led Whitefish, and all scorers, with 13 points. She hit both her 3-point attempts.

Libby enjoyed a big edge at the free-throw line. The Loggers were 12 of 22 for 2 of 5 for Whitefish.

Cailyn Ross had eight rebounds for Whitefish. Shyla Stevenson pulled down nine for Libby.

Whitefish 9 13 4 3 — 29

Libby 6 10 8 13 — 37

WHITEFISH — Dani Douglas 3, Allie Schulz 13, Katie Fyall 1, Cevana Lawshe 2, Cailyn Ross 8, Annisa Brown 2.

LIBBY — Ashley Walker 1, Abby Ennenga 4, Hailey Craig 10, Shyla Stevenson 3, Hailley Moe 4, Shannon Reny 6, Devon Gallagher 7, Dayln Germany 2.

Bigfork 53, Troy 48

TROY — Lana Berg scored 10 of her team-high 20 points in the fourth quarter to rally Bigfork to a District 7B victory over Troy.

Bigfork (11-4, 6-1) trailed 39-35 heading into the final eight minutes of play.

Allie Coldwell scored a game-high 29 points for Troy.

Troy enjoyed a big edge at the free-throw line, going 15 of 20. Bigfork was 5 of 16.

Bigfork 15 14 6 18 — 53

Troy 10 14 15 9 — 48

BIGFORK — Marissa Hiza 8, Riley Coleman 7, Jaime Berg 2, Mattison McAnally 8, Katie Thomas 6, Lana Berg 20, Miranda Campbell 2.

TROY — Aurora Becquart 10, Haley Hickman 2, Taylor Brown 3, Allie Coldwell 29, Allie Brown 4.

Boys

Bigfork 71, Troy 33

TROY — No. 1 Bigfork outscored Troy 24-2 in the first quarter and rolled to a District 7B conference victory.

Isaac Martel and Jonathan Landon each scored 13 points to lead the Vikings, who led 37-16 at half and 54-27 after three quarters. Josh Sandry had 12 points and Adam Jordt had 10.

Gage Tallmadge led Troy with 17 points.

Bigfork 24 13 17 17 — 71

Troy 2 14 11 6 — 33

BIGFORK — Adam Jordt 10, Joseph Potkonjak 8, Isaac Martel 13, Tyler Piazzola 1, Jonathan Landon 13, Josh Sandry 12, Ryder Trent 9, Grant Ozegovich 5.

TROY — Gage Tallmadge 17, Brennan Olds 3, Mason Chapel 2, Kolten Winebark 2, Sean Opland 9.

Whitefish 49, Libby 41

LIBBY — Balanced scoring helped Whitefish slip by Libby in a Northwestern A contest.

Five players scored at least seven points, led by AJ Wetsch, Cody Olson and Luke May with nine each.

Libby’s Jonny Cielak led all scorers with 14 points. Collin Johnson added 11.

Whitefish held a 31-19 lead at the break.

Whitefish 14 17 12 6 — 49

Libby 10 9 6 16 — 41

WHITEFISH — Derek Kastella 8, Brian FauntLeRoy 7, AJ Wetsch 9, Cody Olson 9, Luke May 9, Jack Streibich 4, Luke Cardon 2, Chaffin Ross 1.

LIBBY — Luke Adamson 1, Jonny Cielak 14, Collin Johnson 11, Zander Peterson 3, Colin Maloney 2, Erik Lauer 4, Michael Curtiss 6.