George Ferguson Havre Daily News sports editor gferguson@havredailynews.com
With district tournament time just one week, teams across the Hi-Line jockeyed for position in girls basketball this weekend. In District 9C action, the No. 1 Big Sandy Pioneers sewed up another 9C regular season title with a 79-34 thrashing of Chinook on Friday night. But the real drama in the 9C was in Rudyard on Friday night as Rocky Boy and North Star battled into overtime with he No. 2 seed in the district tournament on the line. And it was the Knights who edged the Morning Stars 13-10 in the extra frame to earn a 56-53 victory. Rocky Boy did all it could to overcome a 32-26 third quarter deficit, but the Knights were too much for the Morning Stars in the extra period. Natasha Dyrland paced North Star with a game-high 22 points, while Justine Beaudry chipped in with 11. Rocky Boy got 15 points from Frances Eagleman and 12 points from Apryl Webster in the loss. In other 9C action on Friday night, the Hays-Lodge Pole Thunderbirds blew out Turner 58-26. The win ensured that Turner and not HLP will finish in last place in the league standings. The T-Birds were led by a trio of high-scorers in Kelsey Stiffarm, who scored 19 points, Kayla Shambo, who poured in 16 points and Darcy Mills, who added 14 points. Turner got eight points from Laura Scheffelmeier in the loss. Box Elder stepped outside the league on Friday night, and the Bears hot streak continued with a 74-70 win over 10C rival Sunburst in Sunburst. The Bears rode the hot-shooting of Arielle Wolfchief and Jamie Montes to victory. Wolfchief scored a game-high 25 points and Montes chipped in with 20 points. In District 10C action, the Power Pirates went to Chester and edged the Chester/J-I Hawks 42-38. C/J-I got 10 points form Daina Kolstad in the loss. On Saturday night, most of the 9C stepped out of the league, but the Big Sandy Pioneers continued their domination of 9C opponents with a 71-16 thumping of Turner. The Pioneers used a 19-0 firstquarter run to overwhelm the Tornadoes, and Shersteen Cline poured in a game-high 22 points to lead them to victory. Turner was led by Sydney Obrecht’s seven points. Meanwhile, the red-hot Box Elder Bears blitzed the Heart Butte Warriors 81-48 on Saturday night to run their winning streak to five games. Arielle Wolfchief was on fire once again for the Bears as she scored a career-high 30 points. Rokki Parker added 16 points and Kaycee Henry chipped in with 10 in the win. And the Rocky Boy Morning Stars got an impressive 70-37 win over Class B Harlem on Saturday night. Rocky Boy outscored the Wildcats 44-14 in the first half and never looked back. Jasmine Dumas led the way for the Morning Stars with 15 points, while Apryl Webster chipped in with 13 points. Harlem was paced by Alyssa Horn’s 13 points in the loss. The North Star Knights also appear to be peaking at just the right time. After knocking off Rocky Boy in dramatic fashion on Friday night, the Knights went into Chester on Saturday and downed the Hawks 44-33 in a defensive affair. Natasha and Britnee Dyrland led the way for North Star with 13 and 11 points, respectively. Chester/J-I was paced by Molly Brown’s 12 points. Also on Saturday night, the struggling Chinook Sugarbeeters picked up a much-needed win as they beat HLP on the road, 34-31. The Beeters led 14-10 at halftime, but the T-Birds pulled even in the fourth quarter. However, Chinook made some critical late free throws to seal the victory. Krista Johnson scored 10 points to lead Chinook, while Lexi Kirkaldie and Kara Obey each scored 10 points for HLP in the loss.
