The Columbia Falls girls basketball team split last week, losing to Frenchtown at home 67-21 Thursday, but bouncing back to beat Hamilton Saturday 48-41 on the road.

“We took care of the ball better,” coach Jeremy Grilley said of the Hamilton win. The Wildkats were down by 9 at one point, but battled back for the victory.

Taryn Borgen had 16 in the win.

Against Frenchtown, the Kats had a tough time against the Broncs’ press and committed 23 turnovers. They also got outrebounded by 20 as well.

Still, the game wasn’t quite as ugly as the score would suggest. The Kats are very athletic and forced quite a few turnovers against the Broncs, but couldn’t convert on the resulting break.

Maddie Barker led the squad with 8 points.

Grilley said the team needs to work on being more patient and composed on the offensive end, and move the ball better. They also have a tendency to compress down when pressured, instead of staying in their positions.

It results in the turnover problems.

The Kats will get a key player back this week. Senior Emalee Alton was out with an ankle injury for about 5 weeks. She’s been cleared to play, She’s the team’s leading rebounder and also takes the ball to the rim.

The Kats travel to Ronan Thursday and then host Bigfork Saturday.