Box Elder girls charge into Northern C semis

GREAT FALLS - The Box Elder Bears hadn't seen the floor at the Four Seasons Arena in three years. And for a time, the nerves of their first Northern C girts tournament since 2012 showed. But, in the final 16 minutes, the Bears, who finished second at last weekend's District 9C tournament, looked like a team that more than belonged in the toughest divisional tournament in the state.

Wednesday afternoon at the Four Seasons Arena in Great Falls, the Bears used a 17-2 second-half run to surge past the Simms-Augusta Tigers 48-41 in the opening round of the 2015 Northern C tournament. The win pushed Box Elder into a semifinal bout with defending state champion Belt tonight at 5:30.

Box Elder, the only 9C team to win in the quarterfinals Wednesday, trailed by seven points at halftime, but found its groove in the third quarter.

"It was our first game here in a while and I think the nerves were obvious in the first half," said Box Elder head coach Joel Rosette. "But we got a lot more aggressive offensively in the second half. We got much more aggressive with our rebounding, and our defensive pressure was really good. It was really nice to see us start to get up and down the floor, and I think our pressure really wreaked havoc with their (Tigers) guards, and that was the difference."

After Simms jumped out to an 18-9 lead in the second quarter, and led 25-18 at halftime, the Bears responded early in the third period. An Alicia Wolf Chief 3-pointer sparked a 13-2 run to end the quarter, and Box Elder had gone from trailing by seven to leading 37-34 with eight minutes to play. But the run kept going as Tyrah Gopher scored a bucket to extend the Bears' lead at the start of the fourth, and by the time Simms scored a field goal with 5:36 left, the Bears had ripped off a 19-4 scoring run over nearly 11 minutes in the second half.

"I thought Gopher was really tough in the third quarter," Rosette said. "She got us going inside and that loosened things up and we knocked down some shots."

The Tigers fought to the end, and did narrow the gap to four points with three minutes left, but the Bears got key free throws from Wolf Chief, Leilani Gardipee and Tia Russell in the final minutes to seal the Northern C win.

"I'm very proud of them," Rosette said of the Bears, who improved to 13-9 on the season. "It's nice to come back here and get a win in this first game. It's always the monkey on your back trying to get that first one."

Gopher had a big game for the Bears, scoring 15 points and pulling down seven rebounds. But Box Elder was also its usual balanced self. Wolf Chief and Alyssa LaMere each added 11 points, while the Box Elder defense forced the Tigers into 22 turnovers, including 13 in the second half.

And after keeping the momentum they built at last week's 9C tourney, the Bears are riding high heading into tonight's showdown with the Belt Huskies. Belt is the three-time defending Northern C champion and the Huskies edged Chinook on Wednesday afternoon to advance to the semifinals.

"No matter who we play, our goal is to give our best effort," Rosette said. "If that's Belt, that's what we'll try to do. If you want to be the best, you have to play the best. Belt will be a big challenge for us, but it's a challenge our girls are excited about."

Beeters go 1-1

There's no doubt the Chinook girls were happy that the Northern C expanded to a nine-team divisional tournament this year, after the Sugarbeeters finished third at last week's 9C tournament in Havre.

But being one of the nine teams in the field meant Chinook would kick off the Northern C with an 8 a.m. game against the Great Falls Central Mustangs Wednesday morning at the Four Seasons Arena in Great Falls. And while the Beeters topped the Mustangs 52-44, that meant it would be a long, long day. The win over the Mustangs pushed Chinook into the quarterfinals Wednesday night, where the Beeters played a great second half, but came up short against the three-time Northern C champion Belt Huskies, 52-44.

"I'm very, very proud of the girls," said Chinook head coach Mollie Rose. "We played two games today and that's a lot. Yes, we would have preferred the outcome (Belt) to be different, but I was extremely proud of the way we performed today."

In the loss to the Huskies, Chinook performed especially well in the second half, and for the second straight year, the Beeters gave them all they could handle. Trailing 24-18 at half, the Beeters watched as the Huskies went on a 10-0 run to start the third period, and watched as the Belt lead grew to 34-18. From there however, Chinook didn't give in. Hannah Weber buried a 3-pointer to get Chinook back on the board, then Brooke Nicholson and Katelyn Neibauer combined to score 12 points in a third quarter that Chinook ended with a 9-0 run. The result of the run was Belt's lead being cut all the way down to 38-34.

Chinook kept going, too. Kelsey Mathon and Brooke Elliot both hit from the charity stripe and the Beeters closed the gap down to two points with 6:55 left in the game. In the end however, Chinook ran out of steam, and the Huskies played well enough to thwart Chinook's comeback bid.

"We did play well in the second half," Rose said. "We played much better defense, and we rebounded better, and that helped us get back in the game."

Chinook's pressure defense was good, and forced the high-powered Huskies into 17 turnovers. On the other end, Neibauer led the way with 16 points, while Nicholson added 14 in the tough loss, which sends the Beeters (20-4) into a loser-out game this afternoon against Simms-Augusta.

Chinook got to the quarterfinals by way of the first-ever 8 a.m. first-round game in Northern C history. In that game, the Beeters jumped all over GFCC in the first quarter. Chinook went on an 18-8 run as Nicholson and Weber each nailed early three's. From there, the game was a fight though. Chinook led 29-21 at halftime, and had to hold off the Mustangs in the final 16 minutes.

"It is tough to play at 8 a.m., but especially when it's the first game," Rose said. "But our girls were up and were ready to play this morning."

Nicholson scored a game-high 18 points, while Neibauer added 17 in the win over the Mustangs. Weber chipped in with 13 points to go along with seven rebounds. Now, after being the only team to play twice on the first day of the tourney, Chinook will look to keep its season alive, and Rose said her team can do that if it continues to play like it did Wednesday.

"Certainly, if we continue to play smart and play hard like we did today," Rose said. "Then we will be successful in this tournament."

District 9C champion Fort Benton-Geraldine was the only 9C team not to record a win on the opening day of the divisional tourney. The Longhorns were knocked off by Winnett-Grass Range 42-39 Wednesday morning. Makae Nack scored 12 points for FB-G, which will play GFCC in a loser-out game this morning.

Chinook 52, Great Falls Central 44

Central 8 13 9 14 - 44

Chinook 18 11 10 13 - 52

Great Falls Central - Lindsey Lincoln 1, Bryn Anderson 12, Hanna Tarum 2, Kenadee Depner 16, Mackenzie Fauque 7, Katie Wilson 2, Brooklyn Ambuehl 4. Totals: 17 6-11.

Chinook - Abigail Ellison 2, Brooke Nicholson 18, Hannah Weber 13, Kelsey Mathon 2, Kalelyn Neibauer 17. Totals: 18 13-19.

3-pointers - Anderson 2, Depner 2, Nicholson 2, Weber. Total fouls - Central 17, Chinook 12.

Winnett-Grass Range 42, Fort Benton-Geraldine 39

WGR 14 9 10 9 - 42

FB-G 9 14 7 9 - 39

Winnett-Grass Range - Shelby Browning 8, Kita Weingart 4, Carissa Workman 10, Angela Murnion 14, Taylor Stahl 1, Tylee Browning 5. Totals: 14 14-18.

Fort Benton-Geraldine - Kaitlyn Bird 2, Katie Witt 2, Hannah Pimperton 2, Coya Nack 9, Makae Nack 12, Cassidy McCarthy 10, Bailey Wilson 2. Totals: 15 6-9.

3-pointers - none. Total fouls - WGR 9, FB-G 13. Fouled out - Witt, M. Nack.

Box Elder 48, Simms-Augusta 41

Simms-Augusta 16 9 9 7 - 41

Box Elder 9 9 19 11 - 48

Simms-Augusta - Kendrah Sudergren 2, Brittny Hoover 6, Danelle Toren 9, Hollee Meek 9, Roxie Parenteau 11, Cynimon Mathews 4. Totals: 15 10-24.

Box Elder - Jaynee Parisian 2, Leilani Gardipee 6, Tia Russell 3, Alicia Wolf Chief 11, Alyssa LaMere 11; Tyrah Gopher 15. Totals: 17 10-16.

3-pointers - Meek, Wolf Chief 3, LaMere. Total fouls - Simms-Augusta 14, Box Elder 18. Fouled out - Gardipee, Tia Russell.

Belt 52, Chinook 44

Chinook 4 14 16 10 - 44

Belt 9 15 14 14 - 52

Chinook - Brooke Nicholson 14, Hannah Weber 9, Kelsey Mathon 1, Taylor Neibauer 2, Kalelyn Neibauer 16, Brooke Elliot 2. Totals: 16 10-13.

Belt - Bailey Cooper 6, Sara Anderson 6, Olivia McCafferty 4, Dani Urick 14, Kerstyn Pimperton 19, Kassie Hoyer 3. Totals: 18 12-19.

3-pointers - Nicholson, Weber, Pimperton 4. Total fouls - Chinook 15, Belt 15.