Girls start new year on a high note

It wasn’t pretty, but it was a W.

The Columbia Falls girls basketball team downed Hamilton in its first home game of the season, 38-31 Saturday night.

The Wildkats played tenacious defense, but the offense struggled at times. The game was just 33-30 Wildkats late in the third quarter, but the Kats got the offense they needed in the closing couple minutes to widen the gap and the defense held the Broncs to just one point.

Coach Jeremy Grilley was pleased with the defensive play.

“We did a good job defensively,” he said, noting the Kats forced 32 turnovers. But they also had 23 of their own, a problem they need to continue to work on.

Onnikka Lawrence and Peyton Ross had five and four steals respectively and Rylee Sweeney had 8 blocks.

Lawrence had 9 points to lead the team, while Ross and Alanis Peterson had 7.

It was an emotional night for the squad, as they lose Maddy Barker for the bulk of the season as she will go to Florida for a medical procedure.

She’ll be missed, Grilley noted.

“She brings a lot of energy and does a lot of the dirty work,” he said.

Grilley said the Kats are looking forward to conference play. They just need to settle their offense a bit and take care of the ball. 

On Tuesday, they dropped Ronan 63-55. Alexa Friske had 18 points in the win.

Lawrence and Sweeney made six free throws combined down the stretch for Columbia Falls (3-3), each tallied 10 points. 

The Kats are now 3-3 overall.