Girls’ Basketball: Great Falls High knocks off Glacier

Great Falls High girls’ head basketball coach Gregg Dart was practically giddy.

He was so proud of his team and how they played that he couldn’t stop smiling.

It was easy to smile Friday night, as the Bison dominated Glacier High, 61-43, to move to 3-1 on the season heading into the Holiday break, which is a “great Christmas present,” the head coach said.

“It was amazing,” Dart said. “ … I’m just absolutely shocked at how well our kids played. I went in at halftime, just kind of looked at them – and they always put adjustments on the board that they think we should make – and I just looked at them and said, “Who are you guys?”

Sophomore point guard Hannah Collins was the sparkplug early for the Bison. The lightning fast guard finished with a team-high 13 points. She had several steals that amounted to transition layups for her or her teammates as the Bison jumped out to a commanding 33-14 halftime lead.

Dart said it felt like, in the first half, that his team had its hands on every loose ball and pass. One of those players that helped with that: Collins.

“She’s just so fast,” Dart said of Collins. “If you kind of turn her loose with the ball, she can kind of handle any pressure … Not bad for a sophomore. She does a nice job on the pick and roll. In transition, she makes pretty good decisions.”

Said Collins: “I feel like we worked together very well tonight,” Collins said. “We shared the ball. We just continued to work well together throughout the game.”

Nora Klick, their junior guard who suffered a badly sprained ankle on Thursday against Hellgate, responded with 13 points, too, a herculean effort, said Dart, after there were doubts that she would even play. Junior Gabby Fought had 12 points.

Glacier (0-1), Dart said, is going to be one of the better teams in the Western Division.

“Tonight’s start was fantastic,” Dart said. “I’m unbelievably proud of our girls. If you would’ve told me we would be 3-1 at the break, I would have called you a liar because I thought we were going to have some serious struggles. It’s still a long season, we still have things we have to improve on, but I’m really pleased.”

Ten players played for the Bison, and Dart said that he was proud of every single one of them. Glacier got within nine points in the third quarter behind some full-court pressure and points off turnovers, but the Bison kept the Wolfpack at bay by knocking down free throws. A last-second 3-pointer to end the third quarter by Klick didn‘t hurt either.

“You don’t have enough space in the paper to talk about all 10 girls that we got in there,” Dart said. “I thought Nora … just had a herculean effort … LynDee Feisthamel made some great decisions. Hannah May, Marissa Meyer, Molly Schmitz, I mean Gabby Fought. All of those kids. I got great minutes from everybody off the bench. That’s why I am so proud of them.”

Dart said he couldn’t express how happy he was with his team Friday.

He didn’t have to.

It was all over his face.

Great Falls High 19 14 13 15 – 61

Glacier High 6 8 17 12 – 43

Glacier – Taylor Salonen 2 0-0 5, Hailey Bennett 6 2-2 16, Zoee Boschee 0 2-3 2, Katie Wiley 2 1-2 5, Tessa Krueger 1 2-2 4, Nikki Krueger 1 1-1 3, Ali Williams 2 4-5 8. Totals: 13 12-18.

GFH – Hannah Collins 4 5-5 13, Hannah May 1 1-3 3, Gabby Fought 2 7-8 12, Nora Klick 5 0-0 13, LynDee Feisthamel 2 2-2 7, Molly Schmitz 2 2-2 6, Marissa Meyer 0 3-6 3, Emma Madsen 2 0-0 4. Totals: 18 20-26.

Team fouls – Glacier 19, GFH 16. Fouled out – none. 3-pointers – Klick 3, Solonen 1, Bennett 1, Fought 1, Feisthamel 1.