Polson Girls BBall Recap: OT thriller

COLUMBIA FALLS - With two seconds left, Anna DiGiallonardo hit a

shot to force overtime against Columbia Falls last Saturday and the

Lady Pirates went on to win 59-57 over their Northwestern A foe to

improve to 5-1 on the season.

COLUMBIA FALLS - With two seconds left, Anna DiGiallonardo hit a shot to force overtime against Columbia Falls last Saturday and the Lady Pirates went on to win 59-57 over their Northwestern A foe to improve to 5-1 on the season.

The Polson fans jumped out of their seats when DiGiallonardo hit the shot at the end of regulation and held their breaths when a desperation three by CFalls clanged away in the final second of OT.

"A loss would have put us in a hard spot," Polson head coach Randy Kelley said. "We want to win the conference so it would have put us behind the eight-ball."

Instead the win improves Polson's record to 1-1 in the conference against a solid Wildkats squad, that along with the Lady Pirates and Frenchtown should be a team to watch at the divisional tournament.

"I think they're going to get better," Kelley said of C-Falls. "They'll be right there and be vying for a spot in the state tournament."

In the OT period, senior Riley Kenney scored seven of the teams' nine points and finished with 31. She's averaging 21 points per game and 11 rebounds so far this season.

"Riley did a good job scrapping and getting put backs," Kelley said. Mariah Hamel had 10 points in the game for the Lady Pirates and has scored in double-digits the last two games.

"Mariah gave us some good looks," Kelley said. "She's done a great job leading us on the court."

After trailing 23-22 at halftime, Polson began to pull away in the third quarter. They started the second half on 7-0 run and ended on a 6-0 run. They outscored Columbia Falls overall 16-4 in the third.

The Wildkats battled back and took the 49-48 lead. Kenney had a huge block to prevent a potential game-winning shot but the Wildkats did get one free throw to go up 50-48 before DiGiallonardo's clutch shot virtually at the buzzer.

Kelley will certainly take the win but thinks his team can learn from it and hopefully maintain a lead like they had established.

Last Friday, Polson hosted Class B Loyola and came away with a 48-40 victory thanks to a big 19-point second quarter and some good defense.

"Thats a good win," Kelley said. "That's a good ball team there, they're one of the better teams in Class B."

Kelley was impressed with the defense of Heidi Rausch, in both the C-Falls and Loyola game, since she was tasked with shutting down the other team's scoring threat. For Loyola that was Kiernan Haggerty, and she ended the game with just five points. Polson had a 26-17 lead at halftime, and maintained the bulk of their lead in the second half.

"The crowd was loud and I know the girls fed off of that," Kelley said.

Kenney led the team in scoring with 20 points and Hamel added 10. While Polson hasn't had the oppourtunity to play at home very often in the early season, they'll get a chance this week.

Polson travels to Corvallis on Thursday, before hosting conference foe Libby on Saturday.

Kelley said he hopes to get a lot of playing time from all his players and develop some more depth on the team.

Relentless as the defense has been this season, he hopes to turn up the defensive prowness even further and work on a few things. Libby is currently 1-6 on the season while Corvallis is 1-4, but don't look for the Lady Pirates to take any breaks. Kelley said this is the hardest working group of kids he's seen. And if these games come down to the wire, Polson has already shown they have somebody that can take the key shot and players that can dominate a stretch of the game.

LOYOLA @ POLSON

Loyola - 9 - 8 - 13 - 10 - 40

Polson - 7 - 19 - 11 - 11 - 48

Lady Pirates scoring - Mackenzie Banner 5, Macall Banner 4, Mariah Hamel 10, Anna Digiallonardo 4, Riley Kenney 20, Heidi Rausch 5

POLSON @ C-FALLS

Polson - 9 - 13 - 16 - 12 - 9 - 59

C-Falls - 12 - 11 - 4 - 23 - 7 - 57

Lady Pirates scoring - Mackenzie Banner 5, Macall Banner 4, Mariah Hamel 10, Anna DiGiallonardo 6, Riley Kenney 31, Heidi Rausch 3