The District 9C girls basketball tournament is finally underway, and it was the Chinook Sugarbeeters drawing fist blood.  On Wednesday afternoon the No.  4 Beeters defeated the No.  5 Hays-Lodge Pole Thunderbirds 58-38 at the Havre High gymnasium advancing to today's semifinals.  It was only game one of the tournament and there were already signs of an upset.  But after overcoming a slow start, and falling behind 5-0, the Beeters were able to capture the 20-point victory.  “That was huge,” Chinook head coach Chris Daniels said.  “If we wouldn’t’ have been able to do that it would have been a close game.” The Thunderbirds opened the game with a 5-0 run, and played the Beeters close for the first five minutes.  But after the contest was tied up at 7-7, the Beeters went on a 12-0 run to close out the quarter, eight of which came in the last minute.  In the second quarter the Thunderbirds were able to close the gap.  Kayla Shambo led the Thunderbirds with five second-quarter points, and led the 13-8 surge.  But heading into the half the Beeters were still up 27-20.  When play resumed in the second half, the Beeters were in control.  They outscored the Thunderbirds 12-8 in the third quarter, and 19-10 in the fourth.  “I guess they were in better shape than we were,” HLP head coach Corey Morgan said.  “But rebounding was also a big thing.  Every time down the floor Chinook was rebounding and we weren’t.  We weren’t’ blocking out.” The Beeters finished with 39 rebounds, 24 offensive and 15 defensive.  The Thunderbirds also struggled with shooting in their first game out.  They were able to find the open shot, but struggled to convert.  And though they were able to work the ball down low time after time, the shots still weren’t falling.  “We need to keep working the ball down low,” Morgan said.  “But the girls were fumbling the ball around and shots just weren’t going in tonight.” Kristie Runs Above led the Thunderbirds with 12 points.  Shayla White Cow followed with nine, and Lexi Kirkaldie pitched in with seven.  On the night the Thunderbirds were 11-of-44 from the field, and shot just over 31 percent.  Early in the game the Beeters struggled as well.  But after getting through the first couple of minutes, they turned in a pretty good offensive performance.  Kayla Hanson led the way with 22 points on 11 field goals.  Ashley Bower and Alyssa Brown chipped in eight a piece while Danyel Haider followed with seven.  Haley Swank and Taryn Norby also added five points each for the Beeters.  As a team the Beeters were 2-of-4 from 3-point range, and 24- of-68 from the field for just 35 percent shooting.  “We knew going out the first four or five minutes of the tournament shots aren’t always quite there,” Daniels said.  “We just figured if we played solid the first couple minutes, made sure we defended and didn’t let the game get too far out of reach we would be ok.” With the win, the Beeters advance to play No.  1 North Star today at 1 p.m. And with the loss, the Thunderbirds will await their next opponent on Friday at 6:30 p.m.