Girls Basketball: Libby slips past Bigfork
Brad Fuqua/The Western News Libby junior Alysha Martin looks toward the hoop with Bigfork junior Quinci Paine on defense during the final minute on Tuesday night. The Loggers ended up with a 44-41 win.
Fighting for position in the post with the game on the line, Libby High School’s Jackie Mee was not going to be denied.
Twice in the final 10 seconds, the 6-foot-1 Logger senior went hard to the hoop. And twice, she scored baskets to help LHS pull out a 44-41 victory.
Coach Jim May said afterward that he had called a simple offensive setup to isolate Mee. Going up against 6-foot-1 Kailey Fierro, Mee got inside to tie the game while drawing a foul with 10 ticks on the clock. But Mee missed her only free throw of the night and the game remained tied, 41-41.
After a fight for the ball, Bigfork ended up with possession but threw it away under pressure. Libby got the ball right back and it went right back to Mee. She repeated her earlier feat with another hoop inside and a foul to go along with it. With 2.9 seconds on the clock, she completed the three-point play for the 44-41 advantage.
Bigfork tried a desperation shot at the buzzer that wasn’t close.
The two teams were evenly matched with quick players that create turnovers and post players that can generate points and rebounds in the lane.
“We just couldn’t get anything started,” May said, referring to a point in the game when he looked up at the scoreboard and LHS had just 29 points in the fourth quarter. “But when you win a game like this, it can help your confidence.”
Libby held a 21-17 lead at halftime with Mee and Jaime Gilden accounting for 86 percent of the offense. Mee hit a pair of 3-pointers in the opening quarter and Gilden added one in the second. But in the third quarter, the Vals chipped away at their deficit and ended up leading, 29-27, by the time the fourth started.
The final eight minutes were close although Bigfork seemed to gain the upper hand with 2:53 left when Quinci Paine completed a three-point play for a 39-35 lead. Gilden scored in the lane with 2:07 left to get LHS back to within two points.
The two teams battled back and forth and the clock dipped below one minute. Then Gilden drew a foul and went to the free-throw line. Both foul shots were missed but Mee got a finger on the ball on the second attempt and the ball ended up right back in Gilden’s hands. She hit the jumper with 46 seconds left to cut Bigfork’s lead to 41-39.
That set up the late-game surge with Mee providing the points.
Bigfork, one of the top teams this season in Class B, dropped to 10-4.
Libby (2-2, 8-5) heads to Ronan on Saturday.
Libby 44, Bigfork 41
Tuesday at Libby
Scoring by Quarters:
Bigfork 7 10 12 12—41
Libby 11 10 6 17—44
BIGFORK (41)
Paine 3 3-5 9, Knoll 5 0-0 10, Fierro 3 2-4 8, Peck 1 3-6 6, VanDerveer 1 2-3 4, Shults 0 0-1 0, Charlbois 2 0-0 4. Totals 15 10-19 41.
LIBBY (44)
Gilden 6 3-6 16, Mee 6 5-6 21, Best 0 1-2 1, Luscher 1 0-0 2, Martin 2 0-0 4. Totals 15 9-14 44.