9C Girls: Fort Benton-Geraldine wins first-ever 9C championship

Four months ago, the Fort Benton-Geraldine girls basketball team didn't exist. Now the Longhorns are the District 9C girls champions. On Friday night inside the Havre High gymnasium, the Longhorns captured the 9C title by holding off up-start Box Elder 48-45.

FB-G came in as the No. 3 seed on the tournament, but after beating second-seeded Chester/J-I Thursday night, then holding off a furious charge from the fourth-seeded Bears in the fourth quarter, the Horns are 9C champions. FB-G, which led by as many as 15 points in the fourth, got 21 points from Cassidy McCarthy in the win. The Longhorns will move on to be a top seed in next week's Northern C in Great Falls.

Box Elder is also going to the Northern C for the first time since 2012. The Bears didn't quite win the 9C title Friday night, but they gave it a great try. Tyrah Gopher, Leilani Gardipee and Alicia Wolf Chief each scored 10 for the Bears in Friday night's championship game.

The third team to reach the Northern C is Chinook. The Beeters were the top seed in the 9C this week, but they had to advance to Great Falls the hard way. First, they lost their chance at a 9C Three-Peat when Box Elder beat them Thursday night. Then, they had to face second-seeded arch rival C/J-I in Friday night's consolation game, which Chinook won 32-28.

The consolation game was close throughout, but an 18-point, 11-rebound performance from senior Katelyn Neibauer was enough for Chinook to advance. The Hawks 16 points from Allix Goldhahn in what was their final game of the season. Earlier Friday, C/J-I bested North Star, while Chinook took care of Turner in loser-out games.

For complete 9C girls coverage, see Monday's Havre Daily News.