Whitefish Basketball Splits with Polson to Open Conference Play

The Whitefish Basketball teams were in Polson, Tuesday night, for their first conference games of the season.

Both teams would open the 2024 slate with a pair of road games that offered plenty of fireworks.

The Bulldog boys would take to the hardwood first in this double header.

Carson Gulick would help lead the Dawgs to an early first quarter lead. Gulick dropped in 11 points in the frame. At one point Whitefish led by 7 in the frame and held onto a 19-16 lead after 1. 

Polson had an answer for everything Whitefish did and the Pirates' Cruz Luis would beat the halftime buzzer to give Polson the 31-30 advantage heading into the halftime break.

Whitefish would open the 2nd half strong outscoring Polson by 7 in the frame behind another strong quarter from Gulick as the Dawgs took a 6-point advantage, 49-43, into the final frame. 

Whitefish would lead by 7 plus points three different times in the game. After the Pirates cut the Dawgs lead down to four in the final minutes, Mason Kelch would knock down a couple of key free throws that sealed Whitefish's first conference win of the season.

Gulick led the way with a season high 29 points for Whitefish. Kelch added 9 while Mason Genovese and Carson Krack had 8 apiece. CJ Thew dropped in 7 for the Dawgs who are now 5-2 overall, 1-0 in Northwest A Conference play.

Polson was led by Anthony Lichtenberg led the way for Polson with 17 while Cason Graham added 17 for the Pirates who fall to 1-8 on the season, 0-3 in conference play.

In the nightcap it was the girls time to shine.

Whitefish got off to a shaky start trailing 9-3 after 1 and 16-10 at the half.

The Lady Dawgs would show plenty of resilience in this one though. They  shook off a sluggish start and dropped in 14 points in the 3rd quarter to cut back into the Lady Pirates lead and trailed 28-24 after 3.

Whitefish would take their first lead of the game, in the fourth quarter, and from then on it was back-and-forth with each team exchanging buckets down to the final buzzer.

With the Lady Dawgs backs against the wall Ainsley Scott took matters into her own hands and dropped in her first 3-pointer of the game in the final seconds to send the contest into overtime. It was all knotted it up at 35 a-piece after regulation.

Both teams would exchange jabs in the OT period with the Lady Pirates making the clutch plays down the stretch to secure the 45-41 win over the Lady Dawgs.

Whitefish was led by Scott with 10 points, highlighted by the 3-pointer that sent the game to OT. Yoli Krastev had 9 while Bailey Smith added 8 for Whitefish who fall to 3-4 on the season, 0-1 in conference play.

The Lady Pirates were led by Samantha Rensvold who dropped in 16. Natalie Adams added 12 for Polson who improves to 4-5, 1-2 in conference.

Up Next: Both Whitefish basketball teams will be in action Thursday against Ronan.

The boys will be on the road to face the Chiefs with the varsity game to tip-off at 7:15pm. That game will be live on 1240 Sam.

The girls will host the Maidens with the varsity game underway at 6pm.

On Saturday, both teams travel to Columbia Falls for another edition in this great rivalry. Girls at 4pm with the boys at 5:30. Both those games will air live on 1240 Sam.