Girls hoops drops a pair on the road, look to rebound this week

The Columbia Falls girls basketball team had a tough week, losing to Ronan on the road Jan. 27, 61-60 and then Frenchtown Saturday, 47-39.

Onnikka Lawrence had 27 in the loss to Ronan as the Wildkats answered a 21-12 run in the third by Ronan with a 19-13 run of their own in the fourth.

Against Frenchtown the hope was to slow down Mason Quinn, the top player in the state, but she had 24.

Meanwhile, the Kats had a slow first quarter with just 5 points and the fourth wasn’t also a tough go as they had just 8.

Lawrence had 11, Alexa Friske 10 in the loss.

Coach Jeremy Grilley was disappointed in the Ronan game, but said they played pretty well against Frenchtown.

Against Ronan they took the first open shot instead of running the offense effectively and using some clock, he noted.

While the Frenchtown game wasn’t as close in the end, the Kats actually led the second and third quarters. They held Quinn to just 10 points through three, but she had 14 in the fourth as the Kats got into foul trouble and put her on the line.

The girls are now 6-6 overall, but still lead the conference at 4-2.

Every game from here on out matters and with the conference so close, the Kats need to be in top form.

“You’ve got to show up every game,” Grilley said.

They face Libby at home Thursday and travel to Whitefish Friday. Libby has a 7:15 p.m. start; Whitefish, 6 p.m.