PABLO — The first contests of the Western B girls divisional basketball tournament were less competition and more of a warmup for St. Ignatius, Florence, Missoula Loyola and Thompson Falls on Thursday.
St. Ignatius 67, Darby 11
The St. Ignatius Bulldogs had their way with Darby early, holding the Tigers scoreless for nearly the full first half on the way to a 67-11 victory.
Kieran Incashola got things started for the Bulldogs and finished with 10 points.
Bulldogs senior Cora Matt led the way for her squad with 19 points, which was enough for her to eclipse the 1,000 career points mark in what was a dominating win.
WATCH THE HIGHLIGHTS:
Florence 61, Plains 17
In another blowout effort, Florence carved out an easy path to the semifinal round, cruising through Plains 61-17.
Kendall Meinhold was on top for the Falcons, leading the scoring effort with 18 points.
Florence will play St. Ignatius in the semifinals on Friday at 6:30 p.m.
The late round of games provided more decisive wins and playoff action to the party.
Missoula Loyola, 72 Eureka 29
Misoula Loyola did what it does best in the opening round of this tournament, which is win in dominant fashion.
It was obvious who was taking this one from the get-go as Loyola started the game with a 12-0 run and Eureka appeared doomed.
The sibling duo of Spencer and Emme Laird led the way in scoring, with Emme scoring a modest 11 points on the day and Spencer showing off with 35.
The Breakers moved on to the semifinal round with a 72-29 victory.
WATCH THE HIGHLIGHTS:
Thompson Falls, 55 Anaconda 33
The final game followed the formula of most day one games, with another commanding win this time with Thompson Falls beating Anaconda 55-33.
Anaconda kept the score close in the first half but could not stop the team effort from Thompson Falls, which was led by Addy Deal’s 17 points.
Not far behind her was senior Gabi Hannum, who had 13 points, most of them coming in the second half.
Thompson Falls will face Loyola in the semifinal round Friday at 8:15 p.m.
