Early leads are sometimes dangerous, according to Corvallis coach Dave Bradshaw. That was certainly the case in the Blue Devils' opening game of the State A tournament in Bozeman on Thursday.

Cameron Bowles hit two three pointers and made a steal which resulted in a basket by Collin Fehr in the first quarter to give Corvallis the edge over defending champion Columbia Falls. The Blue Devils took a 15-point lead into the second quarter.

However, Columbia Falls is the defending champion for a reason. The Wildcats switched to a full-court defense and converted steals and turnovers to points. At the half buzzer, Corvallis still had the lead but it had been whittled down to four points.

The rims were not friendly in the final half of the game. Only one field goal, a trey from Bowles, made it through the net for the Blue Devils. Columbia Falls took their time and made their shots. Their patience paid off with a 52-43 victory.

"Our shot selection wasn't very good," said Bradshaw. "We went away from what was successful. That's the disappointing thing. This isn't a sophomore, junior bunch of kids. We came over here with eight seniors that you think would stay on the same page."

Corvallis was led by Bowles' 15 points which included four three-point shots. Columbia Falls had two players in double figures, Kevin Boyer with 15 and Guy Smith with 20.

With the loss, Corvallis was relegated to the loser out game on Friday afternoon. Their opponent, the Sidney Eagles. The Eagles had lost to Butte Central, 50-41, in their opening game.

Sidney's Craig Beiswanger opened the game with a three-point shot. Cory Tintzman hit a lay up for Corvallis and it looked as if the Blue Devils would be able to play with the Eagles.

Collin Fehr hit a trey to tie the game at seven but Sidney stand-out Jeff Stedman hit a trey to give the Eagles the edge again. Ryan Irby came into the game for Corvallis and converted a field goal, made a steal and turned that into a steal as well, giving Corvallis a three-point lead. A basket from the paint by Trevor Fehr gave Corvallis a two-point edge at the end of the first quarter. The two teams traded baskets throughout the second quarter and it looked as if Corvallis would have a lead going into the half. However, Beiswanger hit a shot from nearly the half-court line to tie the game and give Sidney momentum going into the half.

"I thought they (Corvallis) were ready to play," said Bradshaw. "Our defense came out in that box and seemed to slow that Stedman kid down a little bit. But you got to give them credit, other kids stepped up and shot the ball well."

Stedman had five points in the first half and finished with 14 points. Jerred Vandebossche added 12 and Beiswanger had 13 points to pace the Eagles. The Eagles continued to control the tempo throughout the rest of the game and earned the 65-47 victory, sending the Blue Devils home.

"Twenty turnovers, you can't do that. You can't have a poor quarter, you have to score 16 points," concluded Bradshaw of the Blue Devils' four-point third quarter.

Corvallis was led by Bowles and Collin Fehr. Each had 12 points. Corvallis shot almost 44 percent from the field but only hit five of 14 three-point shots.

Bowles was understandably emotional after playing his final high school game. "I think we played alright. We just didn't want to go two and out. A lot of the thing about state is you have to all believe in a team concept 100 percent of the time if we want to win. Sometimes we got hurried. Not just my team but myself, too. I think the hard thing was to do everything as a team at the state tournament."

Bradshaw said that although it was a disappointing finish, the season was pretty good. "To go 15-7 with some awfully exciting regular season games, that is good. Big Sky, Sentinel, Frenchtown, Anaconda and Dillon, those are five losses against five good teams."

Columbia Falls won the Class A championship. The Wildcats topped Frenchtown with a last second free throw to win, 55-54.

Columbia Falls 52, Corvallis 43
Columbia Falls - Kevin Boyer 15, Robbie Dakin 8, Steffen Anderson 4, guy Smith 20, Greg Macijunas 5.
Corvallis - Trevor Fehr 6, Justin Tintzman 3, Ryan Irby 6, Cameron Bowles 15, Collin Fehr 9, Cory Tintzman 4

Sidney 65, Corvallis 47
Corvallis - Trevor Fehr 10, Justin Tintzman 4, Ryan Irby 4, TJ Warner 3, Cameron Bowles 12, Collin Fehr 12, Cory Tintzman 2.
Sidney - Ben Bawden 8, Jeff Stedman 14, Jarred Vandebossche 12, Craig Beiswanger 1, Allen Anderson 10, Nathan Johnson 2, Jason Merritt 6.

Florence takes fourth

The preseason interview with coach Bryan Neuman was brief and to the point. "We're young and unseasoned."

Now that the season is over, Florence is still quite young; they only graduate three seniors. But they are not unseasoned any more. After taking second at the District 7B tournament two weeks ago, the Falcons made the trip to Polson for the Western B Divisional last weekend.

Florence's first opponent was the Lady Bulldogs of St. Ignatius. Florence came out strong and dominated the game, holding the Mission team to only seven points in the second and third quarters combined.

St. Ignatius was only three points down at the end of the first quarter but a steal by Aly Henderson who dished to Brooke Zeiler for a bucket and a foul got the Lady Falcons going. Liz Miller converted a rebound to two points and Jordan Rick hit a jump shot to put the Lady Falcons up by 12 points.

"We came out a lot stronger in this game than we did in the district tournament," said Neuman. "I was pleased except we have got to rebound. That means all nine girls. Some of the girls that played tonight didn't rebound. I don't care if they are the first person or the ninth person."

The Lady Falcons continued to pour on the offense while playing tough defense and notched their first win of the tournament, putting them into the semi finals against Eureka.

"I thought our half court defense was great," said Neuman. "We held them to under 20 points until the last minute. I thought it was a good effort."

Friday night's game was a tough one for the Lady Falcons. Florence and Eureka had played each other twice this season but this was the game that counted.

After spotting the Lions 16 points while scoring 10 in the first quarter, the Lady Falcons went to work on defense in the second quarter. When the buzzer sounded, Florence had a one-point lead and Eureka hadn't scored one point. Eureka came back and outscored Florence in the third quarter and pulled away on three free throws in the final minute of the game to take the 39-34 win.

Florence held the Lions' top scorer, Amy Roberts, to only 10 points. Liz Miller was assigned the job of keeping the taller senior from getting to the basket. Miller was in Robert's face, on her back and everywhere, to stop her.

With the loss, Florence had to play Saturday morning against Thompson Falls. Aly Henderson tallied 20 points to pace the Lady Falcons. Twelve of her points were in the second quarter which pulled the Florence team within five points of the Bluehawks. Strong defense kept the Lady Falcons in the game and an 18-point fourth quarter gave them the 48-37 victory.

Then it was on to the consolation match against their nemesis, Seeley-Swan. Florence defeated Seeley in semi-final action at the district tournament and Seeley was looking to avenge that loss. Playing two games in one day is always tough and the legs were noodles for the Lady Falcons. They were unable to stop Seeley's Jessa Linford who scored 28 points in the 53-34 victory over Florence.

Florence 40, St. Ignatius 24
St. Ignatius - Kim Christiansen 8, Catherine Baylor 2, Barb Pfeifer 6, Kelsey Cable 1, Mattea Grant 3, Kristin Sansavere 4.
Florence - Liz Miller 2, Brooke Zeiler 17, Nikki Stoos 2, Amber Wahl 3, Jordan Rick 2, Aly Henderson 8, Kelsey Salmela 3, Cortney Reynolds 3.

Eureka 39, Florence 34 (semi-final)
Eureka - Melanie Finch 2, Amy Roberts 10, Krista Kakuk 5, Sarah Flanary 6, Chelsea Workman 12, Eryn Adams 4.
Florence - Liz Miller 4, Brooke Zeiler 8, Aly Henderson 18, Kelsey Salmela 4.

Florence 48, Thompson Falls 37 LO
Florence - Liz Miller 9, Brooke Zeiler 9, Nikki Stoos 4, Amber Wahl 2, Jordan Rick 2, Aly Henderson 20, Kelsey Salmela 2.
Thompson Falls - Rebecca Kovarik 4, Schuster 19, Wood 11, Kaity Petteys 1, Casey Zander 2.

Seeley-Swan 53, Florence 34 (consolation)
Florence - Liz Miller 3, Brooke Zeiler 11, Nikki Stoos 2, Amber Wahl 1, Aly Henderson 12, Kelsey Salmela 5.
Seeley-Swan - Caitlin Stone 6, Maria Childs 4, Jessa Linford 28, Kim Brekke 11, Jimy Murphy 4.

Darby opened their tournament play with a great game against Eureka, the No. 1 Seed from the north. From the beginning, Darby played the Lions tough, with Tara Ray converting a steal on an in bounds pass to a basket for the Lady Tigers. Although they never had the lead in the first half, the Lady Tigers were playing tough and stayed close throughout the half, trailing by only three points at the buzzer.

Eureka built up a six-point lead in the third quarter but a basket by Kayla Schallenberger and a direct pass from Eureka to Missy DeWalt who dished to Celia Baird pulled Darby back within two points at the end of three quarters.

Ray converted two free throws to tie the game and then it was back and fourth with each team trading baskets and turnovers. Jenna Blue tied the game with 40 seconds left when she hit a basket and was fouled. She sank the free throw to tie the game. Ray made a great steal but the ball slid out of her hands and out of bounds. Eureka's Krista Kakuk was sent to the line after Blue fouled her but only sank one shot, tying the game and sending it into overtime.

Brittany Smith, who finished with 15 points, hit a long two to put Darby up by two points. But Eureka came right back and hit a basket to tie. With 5.2 seconds remaining in overtime, Janelle Hilton was unable to convert a one-and-one free throw shot for Darby. Kakuk made her free throw shot for Eureka to give them the 55-54 victory.

"The girls played great," said Darby coach Caroline Ehmann. "I thought they played hard. Eureka's a good team. They were ready for this game, we just came up short."

Darby defeated St. Ignatius, 36-34, in loser out action on Friday. The Lady Tigers were paced by Ray's 14 points.

Darby then played Seeley-Swan on Saturday morning. The winner would meet Florence in the consolation game. Seeley came out strong in the second half and held Darby to only nine points in the half, defeating Darby, 49-27. Blue had nine points to pace the Lady Tigers.

Kiwanis All Stars selected

The 14th Annual Kiwanis All-Valley Classic will be held Friday, March 17, at Hamilton High School. Basketball players from the six valley schools will compete in this fund raiser for the Kiwanis.

Boys: Travis Schallenberger and Noah Stout, Darby; Collin Fehr, Cameron Bowles, Trevor Fehr, Justin Tintzman, Cory Tintzman, and Ryan Irby*, Corvallis; Chad Jensen, Eric Paulsen, Michael Wemple and Steve Fryer*, Victor; Tony Anderson, Bridger Chambers and Ryan Mickelson, Stevensville; Lucky Barrett, Jake Richter, Tyler Gillespie and Cory Martin, Hamilton; Kris Person, Tel Harris and Levi Barham*, Florence.

Girls: Jenna Blue, Tara Ray, Janelle Hilton, Missy DeWalt, Darby; BreeAnna Hochhalter, Katie Jolley, Jessica Pederson and Amanda Burrington, Victor; Aly Henderson, Kelsey Salmela, Brooke Zeiler and Liz Miller*, Florence; Jenna Tintzman, Tisha Smith, Adrienne Bull, Michele Hensen* Corvallis; Jessica Huseby, Claire Schultz, Ashley Albert, Hamilton; Tandi Kazeck, Allison Jones, Erica Jarvis, Stevensville.

*Alternates.

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