George Ferguson Havre Daily News sports editor gferguson@havredailynews.com
It won’t be long before its tournament time in girls high school basketball on the Hi-Line. And from this point on, each and every game becomes extremely important. For the Harlem Wildcats, time is starting to tick away on a season that started out very promising. Despite being in fourth place in the District 2B standings, the Wildcats were drubbed on Thursday night by Glasgow. The Scotties used a 28-6 first-quarter explosion to put Harlem away early. Amy Stiffarm led the Wildcats with eight points and Star Carrywater and Diana Kindness chipped in with seven points apiece in the loss. Thursday night also saw the beginning of a difficult weekend for the Hays- Lodge Pole Thunderbirds. The T-Birds traveled to Roy and were routed 77-42. Fancie Boushie was the lone bright spot for HLP as she poured in a team-high 13 points. On Friday night, there was a huge Northern C clash in Rocky Boy as the Morning Stars welcomed in fifth-ranked Highwood. The Mountaineers had already beat Rocky Boy once this season and they did it again on Friday night. Highwood took a big lead on Rocky Boy via a 19-7 second-quarter run. Then the Mountaineers tacked on a 21-8 run in the third period to lead 45-27. Rocky Boy stormed back in the fourth quarter, outscoring Highwood 20-9, but it was not enough to overcome the big deficit. Shawna Small led the Morning Stars with 12 points and Erin Broncho chipped in with 11 points and 13 rebounds. In other nonconference action on Friday night, Dodson routed Turner 50- 27. The loss kept the young Tornados winless on the season. Like in Rocky Boy, there was a big District 10C matchup in Sunburst on Friday night with first place in the District 10C on the line. And it was the visiting Chester/J-I Hawks who seized control of the 10C standings after they pulled off a dramatic 63-60 overtime win over the host Refiners. The game was nip and tuck throughout. C/J-I clung to a 21-20 halftime lead, and the Hawks led by two points heading into the fourth quarter. But Sunburst outscored C/J-I down the stretch and had a couple of opportunities to win the game at the end. Instead, the clash went into an extra period where C/J-I outscored Sunburst 12-9. Hannah Pimley scored a game-high 24 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for C/J-I. Freshman sensation Jessica VanDyke also pumped in 21 points, including a pair of 3-pointers for the Hawks. In District 9C action on Friday night, the league’s top two teams had little trouble. Big Sandy thumped Box Elder 78-32 and North Star handled Chinook 45- 26. That set up a huge showdown on Saturday night in Rudyard where the No. 2 Pioneers and No. 9 Knights went head-to-head with the 9C regular-season title hanging in the balance. And Big Sandy wasted little time making a statement as to who is still king of the 9C. The Pioneers held the Knights scoreless in the first quarter, and then went on a 16-4 run in the third period en route to a comfortable 57-31 victory. Shalayna Pearson and Laci Keller scored 12 points each to lead the Pioneers. Morgan Darlington added 10 points. The Knights got a strong effort from Justine Beaudry, who scored 12 points. But Big Sandy’s smothering defense was the story as the Pioneers held North Star’s Natasha Dyrland to just five points on the night. The win gives the Pioneers a twogame lead on the Knights with just three weeks left in the regular season. While the Pioneers were busy winning big in Rudyard on Saturday night, the Chester/J-I Hawks were busy playing their second important 10C game in as many days. And the Hawks didn’t disappoint. C/J-I cruised to a 10-point 50-40 win over Simms in Chester. Jessica VanDyke scored a game-high 25 points, including three treys to lead the Hawks. Molly Brown and Hannah Pimley added nine points each. Chester/J-I now sits atop the 10C standings, one game ahead of Valier. Meanwhile, back in 9C play, Saturday night seemed to be about atonement for some teams. In Hays, the Rocky Boy Morning Stars rebounded from their Friday night loss to Highwood by taking out their frustrations on Hays-Lodge Pole. The Morning Stars scored 48 points in the first half on their way to an 84-51 thrashing of HLP. Loni Belcourt scored a game-high 23 points and Tori Belcourt poured in 18 points for the Morning Stars. The T-Birds got 17 points from Fancie Boushie and 14 points from Kelsey Stiffarm in the loss. Box Elder also got back on the winning track Saturday night by beating Chinook at home, 53-44. The game was tied at 31-31 heading into the fourth quarter, but the Bears stormed ahead in the fourth, outscoring Chinook 21-13. Jamie Montes continued her hot streak by scoring a game-high 25 points to pace Box Elder. Chinook got 12 points from Kayla Dugan and 11 points from Brittney MacLean in the loss. In District 2B play, Harlem managed to rebound from a loss earlier in the week by beating up on Poplar, 61-44.
