LHS girls win third straight

The Western News

Libby High School kept pace with Columbia Falls in the Northwestern A race by defeating Whitefish on Thursday, 51-47.

Columbia Falls leads the conference with a 5-0 record, which includes a 49-43 victory last week over Bigfork. The Lady Loggers are sitting all alone in second place at 5-1. The two schools meet on Thursday at Columbia Falls.

Libby’s Brittany Martin came up big in the win over Whitefish. Martin scored 14 points, grabbed 11 rebounds and dished out a team-high seven assists to go along with three steals.

“Brittany Martin had a heck of a weekend,” said LHS coach Jim May, also making reference to Martin’s 20 points in a Friday victory over Eureka. “She darn near got a triple-double.”

The Lady Loggers trailed 12-4 early in the first quarter and battled back to within 21-19 by halftime. Libby took over in the second half, however, behind strong perimeter shooting.

Libby made a trio of 3-pointers on the evening – all by Martin.

“We had a five- or six-point lead a couple of times and they’d climb back into it,” May said. “We led by eight with about three minutes left and kept them at arm’s length.”

Libby shot 50 percent from the foul line with 32 free-throw attempts. May said the Loggers could’ve created more of a cushion by doing a little better at the line.

Jackie Mee led Libby in the scoring department with 17 points. Kate Klundt, called by May as one of the top posts in the conference, scored 21 points and grabbed 10 boards for the Lady Bulldogs.

The following evening, Libby took a double-digit win over Eureka, 52-35. After a close first quarter, the Loggers went on a 14-3 run in the second to pull away.

“We were a little impatient there to start the game,” May said. “I thought we ran as good of a zone offense as we’ve run all year. We got some good looks.”

Libby was on fire from long range with nine 3-pointers on 14 attempts. Martin’s 20 points included perfect 4-for-4 shooting from beyond the 3-point arch. Overall, Martin shot 100 percent from the field.

Mee scored 17 points with three 3-pointers and LaRona Luscher added eight, also hitting a pair of 3’s. Martin had a team-high six rebounds, Mee had five assists and four steals, and Jaime Gilden had three blocked shots.

Mariah Newell scored 16 for Eureka.

Libby, now 9-4 overall, heads to Columbia Falls on Thursday and to Bigfork on Friday in a game that had been rescheduled.

Loggers 52, Lions 35

Friday at Libby

Eureka (6-6)

Stacy 6, Dickinson 6, Lawler 3, Ibach 2, Vogelman 2, Newell 16.

Libby (9-4)

Luscher 8, B. Martin 20, Gilden 5, Best 2, Mee 17.

Loggers 51, Bulldogs 47

Thursday at Whitefish

Libby (51)

Cernick 2, Luscher 6, A. Martin 7, B. Martin 14, Gilden 5, Mee 17.

Whitefish (47)

Klundt 21, Melcer 1, Nagler 11, Donovan 12, Olivera 2.