Morning Stars sweep; Bears, Hawks win big

The last week of January saw plenty of exciting girls basketball on the Hi- Line as teams turned towards the home stretch of the season. To start the week, the North Knights beat Denton 57-36 in Denton behind a game-high 17 points from Shelby Lipp. Britnee Dyrland added 13 points and eight rebounds and Sarah Helmbrecht chipped in with 10 points. Thursday night saw the top-ranked Class B Malta M-Ettes dismantle the Chinook Sugarbeeters 62-16. The Mettes went on a 21-7 run in the first quarter and never looked back. Chinook was paced in the loss by five points from Alyssa Brown and four from Alana Smith. Thursday night saw the start of three straight games and three wins by the Class B Rocky Boy Morning Stars. Rocky Boy beat Cut Bank 58-46 in Rocky Boy Thursday night, a critical 1B victory for the Morning Stars. The Morning Stars used a 17-6 third quarter run to vault them to victory. Falene Russette scored a game-high 22 points in the win for Rocky Boy, while three other Morning Stars chipped in with seven points each. Rocky Boy continued its fine play on Friday night with a 36-30 win at home against Conrad. The Cowgirls led 24-20 at the end of the third quarter, but the Morning Stars ripped off a 16-6 run in the final eight minutes to earn the conefrom- behind win. Russette again led the way with 12 points for the Morning Stars and Caitlin Standing Rock chipped in with seven. In other Class B action Friday night, Harlem didn't fair as well. The Wildcats fell 57-53 in Shelby. Jasmine Dumas scored 14 points for Harlem in the loss. Kianna Dumas and Hypatia Getten each had 12 for the Wildcats as well. In Class C action on Friday night, the Chester/J-I Hawks continued their winning ways with a 53-46 win over 10C rival Valier. The Hawks led 22-14 at intermission, but had to hold the Panthers off late in the contest. Jessica Van Dyke led the way for the Hawks with 18 points, while Jennie Ghekiere added 13 points and Larisa Lybeck chipped in with 11. Friday night also saw Big Sandy's weekend get off on shaky footing as the Fort Benton Longhorns defeated the Pioneers 53-49 in Fort Benton. Fort Benton held a one-point halftime lead, but a 15-10 third-quarter run did the Pioneers in. Hannah Williams poured 21 points to pace Big Sandy, while MacKenzie Jenkins had 12 points and Mariah Gullickson added 10. Friday night also marked the first of two straight wins by the surging Box Elder Bears, who are now in contention for the District 9C title. Box Elder took down Hays-Lodge Pole 81-39 in Hays. Crystal Stamper scored a career high 33 points and Rylin Burns added 16 points in the blowout win for Box Elder. HLP got 11 points from Shayla Whitecow in the loss. Box Elder also ran away from Fort Benton on Saturday night. The Bears beat the Longhorns 67-48 in Box Elder. Aricka Wolfchief led four Bears in double figures with 18 points. Burns added 16 points and Tristan Parisian scored 12 while Megan Henry had 14 points in the easy win. Saturday night also saw C/J-I stay on track by beating Chinook 62-39 in Chinook. The Beeters led 22-20 at halftime, but the Hawks ran off a 26-9 spurt in the third quarter to pull away from the Beeters. Jessica Van Dyke was on fire for the Hawks, scoring a career high 45 points, including seven 3-pointers. The Beeters were led by 13 points from Kayla Hanson. Saturday night was also good for North Star. The Knights picked up a 55- 43 win over HLP at home. Britnee Dyrland scored 15 points and Bridjour Han added 11 points to lead the Knights to victory. HLP got 19 points by Anita Denny in the loss. Rocky Boy also won for a third straight time on Saturday, edging Cascade 44-35 in Cascade. Falene Russette stayed hot by scoring another 22 points to lead the Morning Stars to their third straight win. Saturday was not as kind to Big Sandy, which lost to Winifred-Roy 70-41. The Pioneers trailed 34-23 at halftime, and a 17-6 third-quarter run by the Raiders put Big Sandy away. Suzy Faber scored 12 points in the loss for the Pioneers. However, the Pioneers rebounded on Monday night by thrashing Denton 74- 40. MacKenzie Jenkins scored a careerhigh 28 points and Amber Amsbaugh added 19 points in Big Sandy's easy win.