By JOSEPH TERRY

The Daily Inter Lake

The Glacier girls nearly erased a 16-point fourth quarter deficit against top-ranked Helena Capital, getting within two possessions of taking the lead before falling back late in a 48-39 Western AA conference home loss on Friday night.

Capital (14-2 overall, 9-0 league) was deadly efficient in the first half, leaning on star guard McKenzie Johnston, who outscored Glacier by herself in the first two quarters, netting 16 points to Glacier’s 15. The Bruins shot 67 percent from the field in the first quarter, which included a throw away heave at the buzzer. Capital was also 5 of 8 from 3-point range in the first half.

On the other side, Glacier (13-4, 6-3) shot just 31 percent from the field and went scoreless for the first six minutes of the second quarter and had more fouls (3) than points (2) in the frame, falling behind 30-15 at half.

“We faced a team in the first half that shot the ball very well,” Glacier coach Kris Salonen said.

“I don’t know any game you’re going to win when a team shoots that well. I don’t think our defense had anything to do with it. They just shot the ball very well tonight.”

After a sloppy first five minutes by each team in the third quarter, Glacier began to mount a comeback. Trailing early in the period by 18 points, the Wolfpack found a groove when it began to get the ball to sophomore Nikki Krueger in the post, where she scored seven straight for Glacier to cut the Bruins lead to 10 points.

Capital’s hot shooting night wasn’t over though. The Bruins stretched their lead back to 16 midway through the fourth, leading 43-27 with less than four minutes to play.

Then the Wolfpack started finding success. A putback and a foul was followed shortly by a 3-pointer. Two quick steals turned into easy baskets and one more trip to the post completed a 12-0 run that cut Capital’s lead to four with 1:40 to play.

The lead was enough, however. Glacier struggled to get a foul in order to stop the clock, losing 40 seconds as the Bruins played keep-away. Capital, which had missed five straight free throws to that point, sunk five of its last 6 to ice the game.

For its part, Glacier missed its final four shots from the field in an effort to tie.

“We had them on their heels there in the fourth quarter, that’s why you never give up,” Salonen said. “But, when you get down by 15 against a good team like Capital it’s tough to get back.”

Krueger had a team-high nine points for Glacier.

Johnston finished with 26 points to lead Capital and Savanna Bignell had 10.

Glacier hosts Helena High at 2:30 this afternoon and closes its regular season next week with home games against Missoula Hellgate and Flathead.

“We got better tonight,” Salonen said. “We’re going to continue to get better as a team. We just need to believe in ourselves and what we do well.”

Capital 18 12 7 11 — 48

Glacier 13 2 10 14 — 39

CAPITAL — Tjaden Pallister 2 2-4 7, Rayna Pilgeram 1 0-1 2, McKenzie Johnston 6 11-11 26, Savanna Bignell 2 5-7 10, Madi Quick 1 0-0 3, Kyra Dawes 0 0-2 0. Totals 12-24 18-25 48.

GLACIER — Katie Wiley 3 0-2 7, Ali Williams 2 0-0 4, Brielle Bumgarner 2 2-2 6, Taylor Salonen 1 0-0 2, Hailee Bennett 3 0-0 7, Tessa Krueger 2 0-0 4, Nikki Krueger 4 1-1 9. Totals 17-52 3-5 39.

3-point goals — Capital 6-9 (Johnston 3), Glacier 2-10 (Wiley, Bennett). Rebounds — Capital 29 (Dawes 10), Glacier 14 (Bumgarner 6). Total fouls — Capital 10, Glacier 18. Fouled out — Glacier, T. Krueger.