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Northern C girls tourney is loaded

Longhorns, Beeters, Bears begin Northern C play Wednesday in Great Falls

For the three teams that made it through last week’s District 9C girls basketball tournament, the turnaround in their quest to get to the Class C state tourney is a short one. In fact, it’s very short.

The 9C girls tournament wrapped up last Friday night in Havre, and on Wednesday morning, 9C champion Fort Benton-Geraldine, runner-up Box Elder and third-place Chinook will all start play at the Northern C Divisional tournament in Great Falls.

And the Northern C, which is arguably the toughest Class C tournament in Montana every year, has a new look, just like the 9C did. With the Northern C going from four districts to three this season, the tourney will be a nine-team format, with still only two spots available. The new format also means more games this week inside the Four Seasons Arena, and a much more hectic pace.

Nevertheless, the goal is still the same, and that’s to survive and advance, and that’s what all three 9C teams will be looking to do in Great Falls.

“It’s exciting,” said Box Elder head coach Joel Rosette. “We haven’t gotten the exposure to some of the teams that will be there, and it’s going to be a big challenge. But our girls are really excited for that challenge.”

The Bears (12-9) finished second at last week’s 9C, upsetting Chinook in the semifinal, before losing 48-45 to FB-G in the championship game. And even though Box Elder may not be one of the marquee names in Great Falls, as the Bears finished fourth in the 9C regular season standings, they are a dangerous team nonetheless. With a balanced scoring attack led by Alicia Wolf Chief, Leilani Gardipee and Tyrah Gopher, Box Elder will be a handful for any team it faces in the tournament this week, including Simms-Augusta, who the Bears play in the first round Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. The Tigers finished second in the new District 10C last week in Great Falls and have one of the top scorers in the tournament in Hollee Meek.

Meanwhile, the 9C champion Longhorns (17-4) are on a roll right now, and they’ll look to keep it going when they play Winnett-Grass Range Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. Like Box Elder, FB-G is deep and balanced and the Longhorns have size as well. Coya and Makae Nack are a great inside compliment to guards Cassidy McCarthy and Katie Witt. The Longhorns are also playing their best basketball of the season at the perfect time.

“We lost four games in the regular season, all in our conference, but we showed those losses didn’t matter,” said FB-G head coach Cassie Scheffelmaier. “I think we’re playing our best basketball right now. So I think whoever we face in Great Falls, we’ll be ready.”

Winnett-Grass Range has been to three straight Class C state tournaments, but graduation hit the Rams hard last spring, and coming out of the new 8C in thirds place, they’ll be an underdog this week. Holly Matovic, Angela Murnion and Tylee Browning are players to watch for the Rams.

The Northern C will get started at 8 a.m Wednesday morning with Chinook (19-3) battling Great Falls Central. The Beeters, who won the regular season 9C title, finished third at the 9C tournament, while the Mustangs finished third in the 8C. Despite the Beeters taking third in the 9C, they are making their fourth straight trip to the Northern C, and will be a tough team throughout the tournament. Katelyn Neibauer will be one of the top players in the field this week, and Chinook’s depth should be a factor.

“If we shoot the ball well and play tough defense, we can play with anybody at divisionals,” Chinook first-year head coach Molli Rose said. “This team has a lot of confidence. They believe they can win every time they go out there.”

Of course, if Chinook does win Wednesday morning, the Beeters will be go up against the three-time defending Northern C and state champion Belt Huskies (18-2). Belt’s only losses this season have come at the hands of Class B power Fairfield, and head coach Jeff Graham’s program just keeps chugging along. Behind Kerstyn Pimperton and Dani Urick, the Huskies cruised to the 8C title in Lewistown, handily beating Roy-Winifred. Belt will play the winner of the Chinook-GFC game at 4 p.m. Wednesday. The other first round game Wednesday pits the Outlaws against 10C champion Cascade.

The semifinals of the Northern C will be held Thursday at 4 and 5:30 p.m., while the consolation game is set for 7 p.m. Friday night with the divisional championship game to follow at 8:30 p.m. The top two teams from this week’s tourney at the Four Seasons Arena will advance to the Class C state tournament March 5-7 in Missoula

 

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