Libby Girls Basketball Lady Loggers champing at the bit for championship

The Lady Loggers are pumped up for their district tournament, and looking forward to the challenge of facing some tough opponents.

Ranked third in the state, the Libby High School girls basketball team started their district tournament against Polson, who they beat 44-21 on Feb. 10.

If they advance, they will face Browning and then most likely Columbia Falls for the championship, each of which has only had a single conference loss this season.

And the girls are looking forward to that possibility, said senior Shannon Reny.

“We’re very excited for those two teams,” she said.

Senior Brooklyn Rainer said that the Lady Loggers want to push themselves, and they enjoy the competition the Lady Indians and Wildkats will bring.

“We showed that we could play against them in the regular season, and just want to prove ourselves,” Reny said.

The team’s confidence is echoed by Head Coach Wally Winslow.

“We expect to win the tournament,” he said.

The excitement the girls have for playing the game is echoed by Winslow as well.

“It makes every day fun,” he said. “You know they believe what they can do and they believe in their teammates. They’re working toward a common goal, and they want to be the best.”

Both Browning and Columbia Falls are teams Libby can beat, Winslow said. They will have to work on their rebounding.

“We oftentimes give up too many second chance points,” he said. “If we can control the basketball, not turn it over, and rebound real well, we’ve got a chance to beat anybody we play.”

As a senior, Rainer said it is important to her that the team keeps in mind the postseason is the last time they will all be playing together, and don’t forget to just enjoy that experience.

While Rainer only moved to the area last year, senior Khalyn Hageness and Reny have been playing together since first or second grade, they said.

The girls agreed that they want to hold onto every moment they have competing together.

“It doesn’t feel like it’s postseason,” Reny said. “It feels like we started just yesterday.”

Reny said she feels like the younger girls should have a lot of confidence going into the postseason, because they have earned it.

“This year, we’re getting so many contributions from down the bench, it’s pretty insane,” Reny said.

Rainer said that it helps that some of the girls are also multi-sport athletes, and have experienced the tournament pressure in other sports, such as volleyball.

“We just want to bring out the most energy we can, to finish off our season the best we can,” Hageness said.

“We’re definitely in a good position,” Reny said. “I expect that if we go out there and we play well, play like how we can play and take care of what we can do, we’re going to be in a good position.”