HAMILTON — Trailing by eight points with just over four minutes remaining, Paeten Gunlock willed the Bigfork Valkyries to a 46-43 victory against Browning Saturday morning at the Western A Divisional.

Gunlock’s 28 points helped the Vals clinch their third straight State A berth; they played Whitefish for third place later Saturday. The Bulldogs won a back-and-forth battle with Columbia Falls 48-45 behind Avery Orme’s 19 points. 

Bigfork 46, Browning 43 

In foul trouble early, Gunlock had 10 points in the final period. 

Bigfork led 15-13 when Gunlock picked up her third foul in the second quarter, sending her to the bench for the remainder of the first half. The Vals didn’t score in the second quarter. 

The Lady Indians brought the pressure and forced multiple turnovers. Kendee Ollinger-CalfBossRibs had nine points in the frame to give Browning a 23-15 lead at the break. She finished with 16 points. 

Gunlock and Keegan Campbell made triples to cut the lead to 27-21 in the third, and Josephine Michael scored four points to help the Lady Indians (10-11) take a 37-30 advantage into the final frame. 

That’s when Gunlock took over, scoring 10 straight points to put Bigfork up 45-40 with 17.5 seconds left. 

“I’m so excited, I really wanted to make State this year, and we did just that,” Gunlock said. “We kept our heads up and told each other that we believe in one another.” 

Bigfork    15    0    13    18    -    46 

Browning    13    8    16    6    -    43

BIGFORK — Keegan Campell 1 1-2 4, Payton Despain 1 3-4 5, Eva Heil 0 1-2 1, Savanah Hedges 0 0-0 0, Josie Vick 0 0-0 0, Paeten Gunlock 8 10-12 28, Desi Dell 2 0-0 5, Emma Pargman 1 1-5 3. Totals 13 16-27 46.   

BROWNING — Tess Trombley 4 1-2 9, Josephine Michael 2 2-4 6, Mylee Pretty Weasel 0 0-0 0, Nyahrae Tatsey 1 1-2 3, Peyton EagleFeathers 2 1-2 5, Zoey Valandra 0 0-0 0, Kendee Ollinger-CalfBossRibs 5 6-9 16, Tessley Hogberg 0 2-2 2, Rylynn Kipp-Carlson 0 0-0 0, Brooklyn Bird 1 0-0 2. Totals 15 12-21 43.  

 3-point goals — Bigfork 4 (Gunlock 2, Campbell, Dell), Browning 2 (Gunlock 2, Campbell). Fouls — Bigfork 13, Browning 17. Fouled out — Valandra. 

Whitefish 48, C-Falls 45

The third Kat-Dog battle of the season featured three momentum swings, and Whitefish had two of them. 

The Bulldogs used a 17-7 burst to go up 27-16 with 2:30 left in the first half; the Wildkats scored 12 straight points to erase a 29-21 deficit in the third quarter and led 38-31 on two Riley Sweeney free throws at the 3:14 mark; Whitefish then scored the last seven points of the game after Alexa Friske’s bucket put the Kats up 45-41 with 5:40 left in regulation. 

Reese Hudson’s 3-pointer started the late surge at the 4:01 mark and she poked the ball free for Orme to take coast-to-coast for a layup and a 46-45 Whitefish lead with 1:50 remaining. 

The teams traded empty possessions before Hudson misfired on a three and Orme snared the offensive rebound with 17 seconds remaining. Eventually Allie Shors hit two free throws at :10.9 to put Whitefish up 48-45.  

Columbia Falls (10-11) set a play for Onnika Lawrence, but her three was offline. She had 15 points to lead the Kats, who ended up 10-11. Sweeney had 13. 

Shors added 11 points and Hudson 10 for the Bulldogs. 

Whitefish    17    10    10    11    -    48 

C-Falls    12    7    22    4    -    45

WHITEFISH — Reese Hudson 4 0-2 10, Sammie Shors 1 0-0 2, Avery Orme 7 2-3 19, Allie Shors 3 5-8 11, Stella Frisbee 3 0-0 6, Clair Easterly 0 0-0 0, Blake Ruta 0 0-0 0, Vivian Trieweiler-Schmidt 0 0-0 0. Totals 18 7-13 48. 

COLUMBIA FALLS — Onnika Lawrence 4 5-7 15, Peyton Ross 0 0-0 0, Riley Sweeney 4 5-7 13, Alexa Friske 2 2-2 6, Alanis Petersen 3 1-4 8, Riley Byrd 0 0-0 0, Ava Scholz 0 0-0 0, Lana Byers 1 0-0 3. Totals 14 13-21 45. 

3-point goals — Whitefish 5 (Orme 3, Hudson 2), Columbia Falls 4 (Lawrence, Peterson, Byers). Fouls — Whitefish 18, Columbia Falls 16.