Class A Roundup: Maidens knock off Libby in play-in game

Ronan senior LaReina Cordova connected on a 3-pointer 2.5 minutes into the game to break a 2-2 tie with Libby, and the Maidens never looked back in their district play-in game Friday night at the Ronan Event Center.

Cordova finished the night with 10 points, eight rebounds and four steals as Ronan (14-5) cruised to a 50-33 victory over the Lady Loggers (2-17) and locked up the Northwest No. 3 seed at this weekend’s Western Divisional tournament starting Thursday at Hamilton.

The team missed five days of practice leading up to the win-or-go-home matchup due to a head cold virus that wiped out several players, according to head coach Steve Woll.

Olivia Heiner scored 11 points, and Margaret Cordova finished with eight points and three steals for the Maidens, who also got seven points each from Haylie Webster and Leina Ulutoa.

Ronan opens the divisional tournament with a game against Southwest No. 2 seed Dillon at 6:30 p.m. Thursday. The teams faced off Dec. 11 at Frenchtown, with Dillon winning 56-34.

Browning and Columbia Falls will be the Northwest’s top seeds at divisionals, while host-team Hamilton claimed the Southwest’s top seed.

Ronan 50, Libby 33

Libby 6 - 7 - 5 - 15 – 33

Ronan 15 - 10 - 13 - 12 – 50

LIBBY – Taylor Munro 5 5-12 15(5r), Rylee Boltz 8(2a,4s), Ashley Freese 1 2-2 5(6r), Kinzee Boehmler 3, Addy Gilden-Vincent 2, Ellie Andreessen 0(2a). Team: 11 9-16 33 (15r,7a,7s,1b).

RONAN — Olivia Heiner 4 2-3 11(2r,4a,3s), LaReina Cordova 4 1-4 10(8r,3a,4s,1b), Margaret Cordova 4 0-0 8(1r,1a,3s), Leina Ulutoa 3 1-3 7(5r,1a,1b), Haylie Webster 1 5-8 7(3r,3s), Dani Coffman 2 0-0 4(3r,5a,3s), Lauryn Buhr 1 1-2 3(2r,1s), Kylie Fetui 0(5r), Oceanna Arnoux 0(1r), Ally Luedtke 0. Team: 19 10-20 50 (28r,14a,17s,1b).

3FGs – Libby 2 (Freese, Boehmler), Ronan 2 (L.Cordova, Heiner).

Chiefs’ season ends on buzzer beater

Jace Hill scored 27 points, including two 3-pointers in the final seven seconds, to lead Columbia Falls past Ronan 63-62 Friday and into the Western A boys basketball divisional.

Hill’s heroics came after Columbia Falls (11-8) trailed 61-51 with 4 minutes left in this Northwest A play-in game. Ronan still led 62-57 when Hill hit a three with seven seconds left.

Columbia Falls fouled, and after the Chiefs missed the front end free throw the Wildcats rebounded, Hill split a double-team near midcourt and got off the game-winner with 0.04 on the clock. The buzzer sounded before his fourth 3-pointer of the game found the net.

Cody Schweikert added 16 points and six rebounds for Columbia Falls, which takes the No. 4 seed out of the Northwest into next week’s Western A tournament in Hamilton.

Elijah Tonasket scored 22 points and Marlo Tonasket added 21 for Ronan, which ended up 9-9. This was the program’s third matchup in eight days; each team had won on the other’s floor before Friday.

Meanwhile, the Polson boys secured the top seed from the Northwest in their regular season finale against Browning and had the weekend off. The Pirates will open divisional play against Southwest No. 4 Hamilton at 5 p.m. Thursday. Browning is the Northwest No. 2. Butte Central and Dillon are the top seeds from the Southwest.

Columbia Falls 63, Ronan 62

Ronan 18 - 15 - 20 - 9 – 62

C-Falls 16 - 17 - 15 - 15 – 63

RONAN – Elijah Tonasket 8 3-3 22, Marlo Tonasket 8 3-4 21, Payton Cates 3 1-3 7, Ted Coffman 1 3-5 5, Ruben Couture 2 0-2 4, Dillon PrettyOnTop 3. Team: 23 10-17 62 (40r,14a,7s,1b).

COLUMBIA FALLS – Jace Hill 10 3-4 27(7r,8a,2s), Cody Schweikert 5 6-7 16(7r,1a), Alihn Anderson 3 0-0 8(4r,4a,1a,1s), Mason Peters 2 0-0 5(7r,1a,4s), Mark Robison 2 0-0 4(1r), John Dyon 2(3r,1s), Hunter Goodman 1(2r), Cade Morgan 0(1s), Bryce Dunham 0(1r). Team: 23 10-13 63 (33r,14a,9s).

3FGs – Ronan 6-16 (E.Tonasket 3, M.Tonasket 2, D.PrettyOnTop), CF 7-23 (Hill 4-11, Anderson 2-6, Morgan 1-1).

Lady Pirates’ season continues

The turnaround of the Polson girls program continued Friday as the Lady Pirates (5-14) held off Whitefish (7-12) in a district play-in Friday night on the road. Earlier this season the team snapped a program losing streak that spanned three seasons.

Lexi Wirz had a career-high 13 points and grabbed four rebounds for Polson. Turquoise Pierre and Ari Burke had 11 points each, while Mckenna Hanson finished with 10 points. Burke also finished with five rebounds and seven assists.

Wirz and Burke hit five of the team’s six 3-pointers on the night with Hanson hitting one as well.

The team took the court without head coach Ryan Antos. Assistant coach Jami Hanson filled in for Antos and will lead the team at Hamilton, where the Lady Pirates open with a game against the host team Lady Broncs at 2 p.m. Thursday.

Polson High School Athletics Director Ethan Bucarey declined to comment on Antos’ absence, saying only that Hanson will be finishing out the season, and “our district confidentiality privacy policy precludes us from commenting on personnel matters.”

Antos also declined to comment in response to an email sent to his school email address.

Polson 51, Whitefish 46

Polson 10 - 9 - 14 - 19 – 52

Whitefish 8 - 5 - 13 - 20 – 46

POLSON – Lexi Wirz 5 0-2 13(4r,2a,2s), Turquoise Pierre 5 1-1 11(4r,1a), Ari Burke 2 5-6 11(5r,7a,2s), Mckenna Hanson 3 3-4 10(5r,1a,2s), Grace Simonich 3 1-2 7(8r,3a,1s,1b), Jazlyn Dalbey 0(2r,1b), Nikki Kendall (1r,1a,1s), Ilysia Adams (1s), Julia Barnard (1r). Team: 18 10-15 52 (30r,15a,10s,2b).

WHITEFISH – Erin Wilde 17(6a,5s), Ainsley Scott 11, Taylor Means 9(6r,3a), Hailey Ells 5, Jude Perry 2(10r), Alivia Ingold 2. Team: 18 2-5 46 (38r,10,10s,2b).

3FGs – Polson 6-30 (Wirz 3-11, Burke 2-12, Hanson 1-4), WF 8-24 (Wilde 4-10, Means 3-10, Ells 1-2).