Bears Already Roaring

The Box Elder Bears were heavy favorites in the opening game of the District 9C girls basketball tournament. They knew it, and their opponent, the Big Sandy Pioneers knew it, too.

And while the Bears eventually overwhelmed the Pioneers, it took a big second-half surge by the defending 9C champions to do so in a 57-8 win over the Pioneers Wednesday afternoon inside the HHS gymnasium.

Box Elder got off to a sluggish start and Big Sandy took advantage of it. But, a 23-1 run in the third quarter was all the Bears needed to blow by the Pioneers, and advance to tonight’s semifinal against Chinook.

“I thought we really had better intensity, especially on the defensive end, in the second half,” Box Elder head coach Joel Rosette said. “It was kind of like a switch came on and the girls realized they better pick it up. And they did that, so I was plased with our intensity in the second half.”

Maybe it was first-game jitters, but whatever it was, both Box Elder and Big Sandy came out struggling. The Bears led 7-0, and Lilly Gopher hit a 3-pointer, to make it 10-2, but Andrea Rutledge answered on the other end to cut Box Elder’s lead to 10-4 after a first quarter in which both teams shot under 20 percent.

Big Sandy kept things close for a portion of the second stanza, too, as the Pioneers trailed just 14-8 midway through. But Joelnell Momberg scored eight points in the final four minutes to send the Bears into halftime with a 28-8 lead.

“We missed so many layups in the first half,” Rosette said. “We’re going to have to be more efficient offensively going into the next game.”

The Bears were pretty efficient in the third quarter, as they started the period on a 12-0 run with eight of those points coming from Gopher. By the time the quarter was over, Box Elder led 51-9 and the mercy rule was in effect.

“Our defensive intensity was really good in the third quarter,” Rosette said. “And they only shot one free throw, so that shows how well we played defensively. The girls did a really good job.”

Big Sandy, which has just one win this season, did struggle with Box Elder’s pressure defense. In the end, the Pioneers shot just 27 percent from the field and committed 36 turnovers. Jessica Roth led Big Sandy, which played Turner in a loser-out game this morning, offensively with seven points, while Rutledge had four.

Box Elder, which has now won four straight tournament games, dating back to last season, got 15 points from Goper and 10 from Tia Russell. Nikayala Anderson had eight rebounds as the Bears outrebounded the Pioneers 33-23.

Now, Box Elder (18-1) will look to return to the 9C title game for the third straight season when the Bears take on Chinook in the semifinals. The game is a rematch of last year’s 9C championship game.

“Chinook has really improved defensively the second half of the season,” Rosette said. “So we’re going to have to execute a lot better offensively. We have to take care of the ball and be efficient offensively. And we need to come out and have a great intensity defensively for all four quarter.”

The Bears and Sugarbeeters meet for a spot in Friday’s championship game tonight at 7 in the HHS gymnasium.

Box Elder 57, Big Sandy 16

Box Elder 10 18 23 6 - 57

Big Sandy 4 8 9 16 - 16

Box Elder: M. The Boy 5, K. Morsette 2, S. Parisian 2, N. Anderson 6, E. The Boy 2, M. Wolf Chief 3, L. Gopher 15, Tia Russell 10, J. Momberg 8, Tai Russell 2, B. Lafromboise 2. Totals: 22 10-20.

Big Sandy: J. Leader 2, A. Rutledge 4, J. Roth 7, C. Demontiney 1, J. Cline 2. Totals: 7 3-7.

3-pointers: Roth, The Boy, Gopher, Tia Russell.