Hawks soar past T-Birds

Even though the Chester/J-I Hawks are newcomers to the District 9C girls basketball tournament, by halftime of their first game, they had proven that they belong.

The Hawks, who finished this season second in the 9C and were the No. 2 seed coming into Wednesday night's game inside the HHS gymnasium in Havre, controlled their first-round game against Hays-Lodge Pole from the opening tip and wrapped up a berth in the semifinals with an impressive 63-18 win.

"I thought we came out with some energy and got off to a good start defensively," C/J-I head coach Pat Goldhahn said. "We executed very well, we did miss some easy shots, especially some easy shots inside."

Early on, the Thunderbirds hung with the Hawks and after falling behind 5-0, the T-Birds even took the lead for a short time after Kenessa Shambo made a pair of 3-pointers in the first quarter to put HLP ahead 6-5.

Yet, the T-Birds lead did not last long as two free throws and a trey from Kylee Vinson put the Hawks back in front 10-6. Those points sparked an incredible run by the Hawks, who scored the final 17 points of the opening stanza to lead 22-6.

However, the run did not stop in the second quarter and continued until the C/J-I advantage was 31-6, following a trey from Allix Goldhahn, who led the all scorers with 18 points. Her trey capped the 26-0 run late in the second quarter.

"It's all about my teammates," Goldhahn said. "We did a good job of coming together and playing well. We all executed and that was I think the key was for us."

By the time intermission rolled around, the Hawks held a 38-8 advantage over the T-Birds and in the third quarter, the lead only got bigger as C/J-I outpaced HLP 19-1 to extend the lead to 57-9 at the end of three.

In the fourth quarter, the T-Birds got a little something going offensively and managed to score nine points in the final stanza as the game ended up 63-18 in favor of the Hawks.

"I think we have gotten better," HLP head coach Charla Brown said. "We just need to go to the basket and try to score more. I keep telling our girls that we need to try and go to the basket."

While Goldhahn was the high scorer in the game with 18, the Hawks got a balanced effort from the rest of their lineup with nine from Korrin Harmon, eight from Vinson and seven from Madeline Woods. HLP on the other hand, got eight from Shambo, as well as six from Rayleigh Kirkaldie.

The T-Birds (3-16) will be back in action this morning as they attempt to keep their season alive in loser-out action against sixth-seeded Turner. C/J-I (14-5) has a berth at divisionals in its crosshairs and will look to clinch a spot with a victory over Fort Benton-Geraldine in the semifinals tonight at 8:30 p.m.

"I think it will come down to execution defensively, it always does this time of year," Pat Goldhahn said. "We played them a couple weeks ago and held them (Longhorns) scoreless for the last few minutes. But they are a good ball club and very well coached, it will come down to who relaxes and plays the most composed, but it should be a great one."

Chester/J-I 63, Hays-Lodge Pole 18

HLP 6 2 1 9 – 18

C/J-I 22 16 19 6 – 63

HLP – Kiara Shambo 1-3 0-0 2, Kenessa Shambo 3-9 0-0 8, Rayleigh Shambo 2-7 2-3 6, Miquela Perez 1-2 0-0 2. Totals: 7-26 2-3.

C/J-I – Kendahl Knapton 1-3 0-0 3, Kylee Vinson 3-6 0-0 6, Peyton Cole 2-10 2-4 6, Korrin Harmon 3-5 2-2 9, Madeline Woods 3-6 1-4 7, Allix Goldhahn 7-14 2-3 18, Kristina Dahinden 2-4 1-6 5, Karra Lohr 2-2 0-3 4, Katelyn Hanson 1-4 1-2 3. Totals: 24-59 9-26.

Halftime: Chester/J-I 38, Hays-Lodge Pole 8. 3-pointers C/J-I 6-12 (Golhahn 2, Vinson 2, Knapton, Harmon). HLP 2-8 (Kennessa Shambo 2). Fouls: HLP 15, C/J-I 7. Fouled out – Tia Zander.