This week on Keeping Score, reporter Josh Amick breaks down an action-packed week of Montana high school basketball. 

Flathead secured a thrilling buzzer-beater win over Hellgate, while Glacier’s girls punched their ticket to the AA play-in game. 

In Class A, Bigfork dominated behind Braeden Gunlock’s 28-point senior night performance, and Columbia Falls locked in their postseason spot. Get all the latest scores, standout performances, and what’s next as teams fight for a trip to state!

Welcome everybody to another episode of the Keeping Score podcast presented by Corwin Motors, we have some basketball to go over as some teams played their last games of the season while others kept their playoff hopes alive, so let’s get into this week’s highlights. 

My game of the week was another buzzer-beating shot at Flathead, but this time the Braves were the ones to come out on top. 

As the clock began winding down, Franchini-White pump faked his defender and let a 3-pointer fly through the net as the buzzer sounded to give the Flathead Braves a 42-40 win over the Missoula Hellgate on Thursday.  

I was at this game on senior night at Flathead and all 8 players that were featured in the game were seniors, so it was great to see them end their season on a high note. It was their first league win of the season and first win in league play in two years.  

In their other matchup on Tuesday, the Braves came out of the gates hot, taking an early 16-8 lead but fizzled out the rest of the game in their 50-38 loss to Sentinel. 

Spartans’ Lincoln Roges lit a fire under the team in the second quarter, scoring all 15 of Sentinel’s points and outscoring the Braves team by four to cut the lead in half heading into the break. The Braves finished the season 3-16 and 1-13 in Western AA games.  

On the girls senior night on Tuesday, Flathead sophomore Grace Gall kept the team afloat with her game-high 24 points until seniors Ava Malmin and Mattie Thompson sealed the win.  

After being down by as many as 13 points in the second half, the Bravettes stormed back to shock the Sentinel Spartans 55-50.  

Malmin scored eight of her nine points in the fourth quarter and had the game-sealing steal before Thompson put the game away at the line. 

Missoula Hellgate defeated Flathead 53-43 Thursday night, Sami Dalager led Flathead with 13 points, Caitlyn Converse pitched in 12.  The Bravettes finish the season 3-16 overall and 2-12 in Western AA games. 

Glacier boys were on the wrong side of a buzzer beater Tuesday, as Easton Sant lifted Hellgate to a 49-47 win. The contested shot capped a late 10-4 surge by the Knights, who trailed 43-39 after Cooper Pelc scored in the lane for Glacier with 7:15 left in the game. The Wolfpack led much of the second half but went cold late. 

The pack dropped their season finale on Thursday, Lincoln Rogers scored 17 points and Sentinel teammate Carson Towe added 13 as the Spartans downed Glacier 55-40. The Spartans held Glacier to just 17 points in the first half.   

Cooper Pelc led the way for the Wolfpack with 11 points, Asher Knopik tallied nine. The wolfpack boys finished the season 4-15 overall and 2-12 in league play, which was not good enough for the play-in games. 

The Wolfpack girls took it to the No. 1 team in Western AA, but in the end Hellgate held on.  

Hellgate took a 61-54 victory Tuesday over Glacier at the Wolf Den as the Wolfpack looked to secure a spot in the AA play-in games. Reese Ramey led the Wolfpack with 20 points, with Karley Allen adding 11.   

Thursday’s game, Reese Ramey scored a game-high 17 points and Glacier pulled away from Sentinel in the fourth quarter to claim a 65-34. The win moves the Wolfpack into the Western AA play-in games as the No. 5 seed. Glacier will take on No. 4 seed Helena in the Capital City on March 6 for a chance to go to the state tournament.   

Moving on to Class A basketball, Braeden Gunlock took senior night by storm, scoring 28 points and guiding Bigfork to a victory over Whitefish 67-13. Paeton Gunlock added 18 points and Keni Wade tallied 13 for the Valkyries who led 41-9 at the half.  

Bigfork finished the season 16-2 and undefeated in league play at 14-0. They will play Butte Central at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday as they try to return to the state title game.  

Austin Savik poured in 25 points to lead four Bigfork players in double figures, and the Vikings pulled away to beat Whitefish 69-51 on Tuesday.  Jack Lucke added 13 points and Quinn Herring and Treker Hickey had 12 each for the Vikings while Carson Gulick’s 16 points led Whitefish. 

These two teams played again Thursday night, Treker Hickey scored 18 points and led a closing 17-1 run lifted the Vikings to a come-from-behind win 47-45. Will Sisson and Scott Dalen had 13 each to lead Whitefish, which ended up 6-13 in their season finale. The win allowed Bigfork to reach the play-in game against top-ranked Dillon Thursday at 8 p.m. at Whitefish. 

For Whitefish girls, Aleysia Black and Rylee Taylor-Jefferson scored nine points each as Polson used a strong first half to defeat Whitefish 38-29 in a Northwest A girls basketball play-in game Thursday evening.  The Pirates now travel to Browning Saturday at 2 p.m. with the winner clinching the Northwest A No. 4 seed. The Bulldogs finished with a 5-14 record. 

Columbia Falls boys on Tuesday had Grady Hutton scoring 20 points and sparking a big second-quarter in their win over Polson 59-32. Bjorn Pedersen added 15 points and Reggie Sapa chipped in 10 for the Wildcats. Columbia Falls finished as the second seed and will play Butte Central on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. 

Rylee Sweeney and Taryn Borgen scored 12 points each and Columbia Falls held Polson to 12 second half points as the Wildkats picked up a 51-34 on Tuesday night. They finished the season 10-8 and will play Hamilton at 3:30 on Thursday.  

I believe that is all the news I have for you this week on the Keeping Score podcast presented by Corwin Motors, make sure you get to Whitefish high school on Thursday for a day packed full of divisional games, I will be there as well to get you the best coverage possible. Good luck to all the teams in the playoffs and I will see you all next week on another episode of the Keeping Score podcast.  

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