Beeters crush youthful Pioneers

The Chinook Sugarbeeters are the two-time defending District 9C girls champions. And they stormed into the Havre High gymnasium for the 2015 9C girls tournament, announcing their intention to claim a third straight district title with authority.

In the opening round of the 9C tourney Wednesday afternoon, Chinook blasted the young Big Sandy Pioneers 68-17, advancing to tonight's semifinals. Chinook has now reached the semifinals of the 9C tournament five straight times.

And it was a big first quarter that propelled the Beeters forward.

Chinook came out with a full-court press on defense, and wound up forcing the winless Pioneers into 12 turnovers in the first eight minutes. On the other end, the Beeters got an early three from sophomore Taylor Neibauer, then layup after layup, overwhelming the Pioneers. By the time Brooke Nicholson drilled a triple at the four-minute mark, Chinook was ahead 17-0 and the Beeters finished the first period leading 23-0.

Chinook head coach Molli Rose turned to her bench for the second quarter, but things didn't get any better for the Pioneers as Sierra Swank scored the first six points of the period, before Jenna Leader finally got Big Sandy on the board with a three at the seven-minute mark. But Nicole McCracken answered for Chinook with two straight makes, and by the time the first half came to a close, the Beeters led 51-5, and the rest of the game was played with running clock.

"I was very happy with how our starters played," Rose said. "It was good to get them out there and get them used to the gym, the floor, the atmosphere, all of it. There's always first-game jitters at this tournament, and I felt like we got those out of the way pretty quickly."

While Chinook's starters did play well, so did the entire bench. Swank wound up leading all scorers with 14 points, while McCracken, Abby Ellison and Erin Pula combined for 18 more. Nicholson added 13 points in limited action.

Big Sandy, which fell to 0-19 on the season, and will try and win for the first time when it faces North Star this morning, got six points from Abby Gregory and another five from Leader. The Pioneers, who have just two seniors and play five freshman, shot just 26 percent for the game and were forced into 35 turnovers.

And while Big Sandy will look to pull an upset today against the Knights, the Beeters (17-2) will turn their attention to the Box Elder Bears in tonight's semifinal. Chinook swept the Bears twice this season, but Rose expects a tough game and says there are things her team must do well in order to march on and win a third straight 9C title.

"That game (semifinal) will be tough," Rose said. "They (Bears) will be ready. "Ultimately, to win this tournament, we're going to have to play with confidence. We're going to have to shoot the ball consistently, and we need to play good, solid defense."

Tonight's semifinal between the Beeters and the Box Elder Bears will tip off at 7 inside the HHS gymnasium. The winner will face the winner of tonight's second semifinal between Chester/J-I and Fort Benton-Geraldine.

Chinook 68, Big Sandy 17

Big Sandy 0 5 6 6 – 17

Chinook 23 18 11 16 – 68

Big Sandy – Jenna Leader 2-5 0-0 5, Cheyenne Johnson 1-4 0-1 2, Abby Gregory 3-10 0-0 2, Dakota Terry 1-2 0-0 2. Totals: 8-30 0-2 17.

Chinook – Carrie Hofer 1-7 0-0 2, Abby Ellison 3-11 0-2 6, Brooke Nicholson 4-4 4-4 13, Hannah Weber 2-5 1-2 5, Sierra Swank 7-10 0-0 14, Taylor Neibauer 1-3 1-2 3, Katelyn Neibauer 3-5 0-1 7, Erin Pula 3-3 0-0 6, Brooke Elliot 3-4 0-0 6, Nicole McCracken 3-5 0-0 6. Totals: 30-60 5-11 68.

Halftime: Chinook 51-5. 3-pointers: Leader 1, Nicholson 1, T. Neibauer 1, K. Neibauer 1. Fouls: Big Sandy 13, Chinook 5. Fouled out: None.