George Ferguson Havre Daily News sports editor gferguson@havredailynews.com
Billings was the sight this weekend for the best high school senior basketball players in Montana to showcase their talents one more time. And several Hi-Line stars helped their respective teams to solid finishes. At the Treasure State Classic, which is an all-star tournament for girls players in Montana, the Central A team, led by Havre High's Katie Mariani, as well as Blue Pony teammates Steph Stremcha and Stacey Sheppard, finished fifth overall, after losing to the Eastern B 70-64 on Saturday. The Eastern B squad was paced by Malta standout and Montana State University-Northern recruit Laramie Schwenke. Mariani, who along with Livingston's Sage Indendi, was one of the Central A's leading scorers throughout the tournament, earned All-Tournament Team honors this weekend in Billings, as did Indendi. Schwenke was also named to the all-tournament team. The Northern C girl's team didn't reach the final round, but the squad got plenty of contributions over the weekend from District 9C stars, Natasha Dyrland of North Star, Shersteen Cline and Morgan Darlington of Big Sandy and Rokki Parker of Box Elder. The tournament was won by the Class AA North. The AA squad beat the Class A East team 70-64 in the championship game, and Class A stars Torrie Cahill of Miles City and Ali Hurley of Anaconda shared the tournament MVP. Meanwhile, at Billings Senior this weekend, the Northern C and Northern B all-stars had strong finishes at the Crowne Plaza All-Star Classic, which is the boy's all-star tournament. The Northern C squad, which featured Chester/J-I's Dillon Hayes and Rocky Boy's Rodney Turn Toes, finished fourth after losing to the Class AA North 86-79 on Saturday night. Hayes was one of the top scorers for the Northern C team over the course of the tournament. And the Northern B team, which featured Harlem standouts Rick Haluszka and Eric Plumage finished fifth after falling to the Class AA Central team 94-84. Both Haluszka and Plumage averaged in double figures for the weekend. The Central A team composed of Class A's state champion Browning and runner-up Butte Central players, did manage to capture the Crowne Plaza championship on Saturday night by beating the Eastern A team 92-73.
