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Hawks among Hi-Line girls teams in action

It's that time of year. Basketball tournaments on the Hi-Line where the season comes down to one game, one shot, one call.

For three local girls teams, that

Rocky Boy's Leigha Onco looks to shoot during a Native American Classic game back in December in Havre. The Morning Stars are in action at the District 1B tournament in Conrad this weekend. See Tuesday's Hi-Line Roundups for results.

drama begins today and Friday at three different tournaments. The Chester/J-I Hawks, the Rocky Boy Morning Stars and the Harlem Wildcats will all look to keep their seasons going as they play in the District 10C, District 1B and District 2B tournaments, respectively.

The Hawks (17-1) are favored to do so. C/J-I has had a remarkable season behind the play of stalwarts like Jenni Ghekiere, Kate Graff, Stina Haaland, Nikole Wolfe and Jocelyn Woods. C/J-I has run roughshod over the 10C this season, thanks to a veteran group, which captured the 10C title a year ago.

At the 10C tourney this weekend in Cut Bank, the powerful Hawks will be expected to do the same yet again. As the No. 1 seed, C/J-I will open with a bye in today's first round and await the winner of Sunburst and Dutton-Brady in Friday night's semifinals.

The 10C girls tourney also features four tough teams on the other side of the bracket. Simms plays Heart Butte in the opener this afternoon, and the Tigers could be the other team which gets out of the 10C and into next week's Northern C in Great Falls. Valier is also a divisional contender, and the Panthers take on a young Power team in the other first round-game today.

The 10C tourney, which runs with the boys tournament, will wrap up with the championship games in Cut Bank on Saturday night. The top two teams from the tournament will move on to the divisional tournament in Great Falls.

In Conrad, the Rocky Boy Morning Stars will look to start their season over. The Morning Stars went just 2-16 on the season and didn't win a single game in the 1B. But, at the 1B tournament, records are wiped clean and with four teams heading to the divisional tourney, Rocky Boy will look to turn things around.

The Morning Stars are led by Tennae Singer and Leigha Onco in scoring. But a healthy Sabrina Laforge as well as strong play from Leah Gopher has helped Rocky Boy play much better the last month of the season.

Still, the Morning Stars are playing in perhaps the toughest district tournament in all of Class B basketball. Defending state champion Fairfield went a perfect 18-0, while Choteau and Cut bank have also been solid all season long. Rocky Boy opens tournament play today at 5:30 against the Conrad Cowgirls (9-9), another team which has the capability to do great things in the postseason.

The Harlem Wildcats, who also won just twice all season, will also get their second season underway today. Harlem opens play at the 2B tournament in Wolf Point against second-seeded and host Wolf Point at 1 p.m. this afternoon.

Harlem has had to rebuild after graduating a host of players who led the Wildcats to back-to-back strong showings at the 2B tourney. This year, Harlem has went with a young lineup, led by Tesche Ereaux, who leads the team averaging 15 points per game. The Wildcats also get solid scoring from Monique Doney, while Jevie Doney has tournament experience.

Plentywood is the top seed in the 2B, while Wolf Point and Glasgow have also been solid all year long.

The top four teams from the 1B and the 2B will make up the Northern B girls divisional in two weeks.

 

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