Beeters fight their way to divisionals

Everything seemed to be falling into place for the Chinook Sugarbeeters to win their third straight District 9C girls championship. Chinook looked absolutely dominant in the 9C quarterfinals, and had lost to a 9C team just once all year heading into this weekend’s 9C tournament.

But things didn’t go as planned in Thursday night’s semifinals, and by Friday night, the Beeters found themselves playing for their Northern C lives — and playing against an arch rival that ultimately, they thought they’d be playing for the 9C championship.

But in the end, Chinook saved its season with a hard-fought, 32-28 win over the Chester/J-I Hawks in Friday night’s 9C girls consolation game inside the Havre High gymnasium. The win pushed Chinook through to its fourth straight Northern C tournament, while the Hawk’s first season in the 9C came to an end with the tough loss.

“I thought the girls did a great job of keeping their composure,” said first-year Chinook head coach Molli Rose. They came here to play for the championship again, but that didn’t work out. So I thought they did a great job of getting through a tough situation today. I think they really grew up some more this weekend.”

With the loss to Box Elder still stinging, Chinook had to topple an old rival Friday night, and it wasn’t easy. In the first quarter of the consolation game, neither the Beeters nor Hawks looked sharp, and the result was a 6-4 Chinook lead after eight minutes of play.

Things didn’t get much better for either team in the second stanza. Three points by Katelyn Neibauer gave Chinook an 11-6 lead, but Allix Goldhahn closed the half with a layup off a steal and two free throws to bring the Hawks back to within one at 11-10.

But, it appeared both teams relaxed coming out of halftime, because they combined for five 3-pointers to start the second half. Neibauer and Brooke Nicholson hit bombs for Chinook and Goldhahn and Kendahl Knapton knocked in treys for the Hawks, making the score 19-16 Chinook late in the third. The Beeters added a Neibauer putback at the buzzer to extend their lead to 22-16 with eight minutes left.

“I just told them to relax at halftime,” Rose said. “I told them that if they went out there and played their game, everything would be fine.”

And it worked. Chinook was much more composed in the final 16 minutes, but the Beeters did have to hold off one last charge from the Hawks. Chinook, spurred on by a great effort from Neibauer playing in her final 9C tourney, led 32-24 with three minutes to go. But from there, C/J-I nearly came all the way back. Chinook wouldn’t score again, while Goldhahn drilled a trey to cut the lead to five and Payton Cole added a bucket in the comeback try as well. But, down the stretch, C/J-I, which played great defense all night, couldn’t capitalize on Chinook turnovers and missed free throws and the Beeters hung on for the win.

Neibauer was spectacular for the Beeters, scoring 18 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. Nicholson chipped in with eight points, while Goldhahn hit three treys and scored 16 points to lead the Hawks.

C/J-I’s road to the consolation game started when it lost to Fort Benton-Geraldine in the semifinals Thursday night. The Hawks then had to turn around and play arch rival North Star in a loser-out game Friday morning.

In that game, the Hawks showed their resiliency, despite being such a young team, as they beat the Knights 54-39. North Star got off to a strong start and led 15-13 after one, and the run continued into the second quarter, and the Hawks found themselves trailing 28-21 at intermission.

From there however, C/J-I really turned up the heat defensively, while Goldhahn nailed three bombs in what turned out to be a spectacular 29-point performance, while the Hawks outscored the Knights 33-11 in the final 16 minutes.

Knapton added nine points for C/J-I, which finished the season with a stellar 15-7 overall record, while Kristina Dahinden scored seven. In what was North Star’s (11-10) last game of the season, the Knights got an outstanding 21 points from Mackenzie Hansen, while Tylynn Rettig added eight.

Meanwhile, the Beeters needed no such comeback in their loser-out game Friday morning. Chinook stampeded its way to a 62-35 victory over Turner.

Turner kept pace with the Beeters in the first half, trailing just 32-22, but Chinook, behind a big game from Hannah Weber, kept its tournament going by outscoring the Tornadoes 21-0 in the third quarter — and from there the game was all but over.

Still, it was an exciting weekend for the Tornadoes (9-12), who played on the third day of the 9C for the first time in a decade. In their last game, they got seven points from Ella Billmayer. Weber scored a game-high 18 for Chinook, while Neibauer chipped in with 13 points.

And with two gutsy wins Friday, Chinook not only survived an exciting and difficult 9C tourney, but the Beeters (19-3) are headed back to the Northern C yet again. Chinook begins divisional tournament play Wednesday at 8 a.m. against Great Falls Central. The 2015 Northern C girls tournament runs Wednesday through Friday, with the top two teams advancing to the Class C state tournament March 5-7 in Missoula.

Chinook 32, Chester/J-I 28 (3rd)

Chinook 6 5 11 10 – 32

C/J-I 4 6 6 12 – 28

C/J-I – Kendahl Knapton 2-8 0-0 5, Peyton Cole 1-8 1-2 3, Madeline Woods 1-2 2-2 4, Allix Goldhahn 5-11 3-6 16. Totals: 9-36 6-10 28.

Chinook – Brooke Nicholson 2-7 3-4 8, Hannah Weber 1-6 0-0 2, Kelsey Mathon 1-1 0-0 2, Katelyn Neibauer 7-19 3-6 18, Brooke Elliot 1-2 0-0 2. Totals: 12-35 6-12 32.

Halftime: Chinook 11-10. 3-pointers: Knapton 1, Goldhahn 3, Nicholson 1, Neibauer 1. Fouls: C/J-I 9, Chinook 16. Fouled out: None.

Chester/J-I 54, North Star 39 (lo)

C/J-I 13 8 14 19 – 54

North Star 15 13 6 5 – 39

C/J-I – K. Knapton 9, K. Vinison 3, M. Woods 4, A. Goldhahn 29, K. Dahinden 7, K. Hansen 2. Totals: 13 22-28.

North Star – M. Hanson 21, T. Rettig 8, L. Pederson 2, S. Spicher 1, N/A 7. Totals: 12 11-19.

3-pointers – Vinison 1, Goldhahn 3, Woods 1, Dahinden 1, Hanson 2, N/A 2. Total fouls – CJI 17, North Star 16. Fouled out – S. O'Neil.

Chinook 62, Turner 35 (lo)

Chinook 13 19 21 9 – 62

Turner 9 13 0 13 – 35

Chinook – A. Ellison 2, B. Nicholson 9, H. Weber 18, K. Mathon 4, S. Swank 2, T. Niebauer 2, K. Niebauer 13, B. Elliot 10, N. McCracken 2. Totals: 23 11-23.

Turner – E. Billmayer 7, M. Watkins 4, R. Watkins 6, R. Conlan 6, R. Conlan 6, K. Conlan 6. Totals: 11 10-11.

3-pointers – Nicholson 1, Weber 4, Billmayer 1, K. Conlan 2. Team fouls – Chinook 13, Turner 16. Fouled out – none.