With a pair of dominating victories over Flathead last week, the Glacier boys and girls basketball teams maintained their crosstown supremacy — at least for now — while gaining an added boost of confidence heading into a pivotal point of the season.
Just past the halfway mark, both Wolfpack squads are jostling for top spots in the statewide rankings and Western AA standings as conference action heats up.
The girls (11-1 overall, 4-0 in conference) were ranked second in Class AA in the latest Associated Press poll and stood runner-up in the West standings, behind Helena Capital (10-1, 5-0).
The boys (8-4, 2-2) jumped into the top five in Class AA, ranked fifth last week, and similarly sit in fifth place in the highly competitive Western standings.
This week will provide a challenging test for both teams in a showdown with Helena and Helena Capital.
The boys host Helena (7-4, 3-1) at 7:30 p.m., Feb. 5, and then defending state champ Helena Capital (7-5, 3-2) at 5:15 p.m. the following day.
The Glacier girls hit the road to play Capital on Feb. 6 and Helena on Feb. 7. They stay on the road for a matchup with Missoula Big Sky (10-3, 2-3) on Feb. 12.
“We still have to get better offensively and we still have three tough road games coming up. That will be the test of how good we are and can we be a championship team,” Glacier girls head coach Kris Salonen said after the Wolfpack’s 52-23 win over Flathead.
Salonen’s veteran squad is holding its own nicely this season, winning the last 11 games in a row since dropping the opener to Great Falls, 53-46. That stretch included a 46-40 win over previously unbeaten Columbia Falls, the top-ranked team in Class A, and a 45-44 comeback win over Lake City, a talented team from Idaho.
“We’re coming together,” Salonen said.
“There will be ups and downs, definitely, but you want to be the best you can be heading into the state tournament. We never used to be able to win those close games but finally as a program, as a team, we can win those tight games. They know how to win now.”
Junior Hailee Bennett, an all-state guard and co-captain, is averaging 15.4 points per game, third most in the state. She has scored 16 points in three of the last four games and netted a season-high 22 in the Wolfpack’s 60-45 win over Big Sky in early January.
Bennett has had a strong supporting cast, including senior co-captain Brielle Bumgarner, a post with the tough task of filling the shoes of Cassi Hashley, an all-state standout who graduated last year. Bumgarner scored eight against Flathead and nine against Columbia Falls. She also scored the game-winning layup against Lake City with 18 seconds left.
“I think we’re figuring out who we are and how we can work together toward the end of games when it gets really pressured and we need to keep our cool,” Bumgarner said. “It will take a lot of grit (down the stretch of the season). We will need to figure out how to play under that pressure and win in those situations, the tight ones. I think that we can.”
The Flathead girls (2-10, 0-4) are hoping to regroup and regain momentum entering the final stretch. Kylee Meredith led Flathead with seven points against Glacier last week, Taryn Gutierez had six and Stephanie Wilson added five. The girls travel to Helena this week.
The Flathead boys (4-8, 1-3) take on Helena’s teams at home this week, with a matchup against Helena on Feb. 6 and against Capital the following night.
The Glacier boys are in the thick of a dogfight in the West, which has five teams with winning records, including last year’s runner-up, Missoula Hellgate, which boasts the top player in Montana, Tres Tinkle.
Last week in a 73-42 win over Glacier, Tinkle scored a career-high 35 points, putting on a performance that included slam dunks, swatting defense and an historic milestone. Tinkle, who will play at Oregon State University under his head coach father, Wayne, next year, became the all-time scoring leader at Hellgate, hitting 1,250 career points and surpassing former Montana Grizzlies and Old Dominion basketball coach Blaine Taylor, who had 1,216. Tinkle is averaging 24 points per game, most in Montana.
“We want to get to the state tournament. We want to play with the best teams in the state and we saw what the best team in the state was like that night,” Glacier head coach Mark Harkins said. “And we learned if you want to play at that level, that’s where you have to get to.”
Harkins reached a milestone of his own recently. The Wolfpack’s eighth-year coach surpassed 100 career wins after Glacier defeated Lake City, Idaho, 55-42 on Jan. 24. Victory 101 came against Flathead.
Harkins has led Glacier on an impressive run since the program was established in 2007. Five of the team’s seven seasons have ended with winning records. The boys won the Western AA conference three straight years from 2011-2013 and have qualified for the state tournament the last six seasons. Last year’s squad fell to Capital in the state semifinals, 63-44, and finished the season 12-12.
This year, Harkins has a burly, explosive team of athletes who largely know what championship success tastes likes and what it takes to achieve that glory.
The Wolfpack’s roster features more than a few familiar faces from the school’s state championship football team, including 6-foot-7 senior post Truman Pisk, 6-4 sophomore Jaxen Hashley, 6-3 senior Cain Boschee, 6-0 senior Tucker Rauthe and 6-2 senior Sam McCamley. There’s also all-state runner Kade McCutcheon.
Harkins has seen five different players lead the team in scoring in games this winter. McCamley scored a game-high 20 points against Flathead. Hashley had 19 against Whitefish and 13 against Big Sky. Taden Gilman, a sophomore, had 11 against Lake City.
“We’re starting to figure it out and be comfortable with each other,” Harkins said. “We’re getting a better grasp of what we’re trying to do.”
He added, “This is a great defensive team. Our offense is coming but we can always hang our hats on our defense.”