Bears roar past Huskies, Tornadoes blow by Simms at Northern C

GREAT FALLS - In the Northern C, there's no matchup quite like Box Elder and Belt. The two teams have been the dominant forces in the Northern C girls for a long, long time. And in an interesting twist of fate, they renewed their rivalry in the first round of the 2019 Northern C extravaganza.

And while Belt, of longtime head coach Jeff Graham came in with a district title under its belt, it mattered none to the defending Class C state champion Bears as they outscored the Huskies 30-18 between the end of the first quarter and the start of the fourth to win 60-51 and advance to tonight's semifinal against 9C rival Turner.

"Our defense was a big focus this week," Box Elder head coach Joel Rosette said. "Belt started with a torrid pace, but once we got settled defensively, we started to get stops and get back in the game. We held them to six points in the second quarter, and that was huge for us."

The Huskies did start red-hot. They hit five 3-pointers in the first quarter and led by as many as eight points. But a three from Joelnell Momberg helped the Bears close the gap to 23-17, and after the Bears ripped off an 11-2 run in the second, they led 32-29.

And thanks to a huge third quarter from senior Lilly Gopher, the Bears wouldn't trail again.

Gopher, who had an injured ankle in last week's 9C tournament, buried three triples in the third stanza, and when Momberg added her second bomb of the third, the Bears took a 47-41 lead into the fourth quarter, and never looked back. Box Elder would go on a 11-0 run in the fourth to put the game away.

"Lilly was huge for us today," Rosette said. "She had an ankle injury and was sick all last week, but she came in ready to go today. She made some big shots, and her teammates made big plays with her."

Indeed. Gopher complimented Momberg's huge, 23-point game with 15 her of own. The tandem also made seven of Box Elder's eight threes with Eve The Boy adding a key triple of her own during Box Elder's third-quarter spurt. Defensively, Box Elder also forced seven turnovers in the second half, and held the Huskies to just 35 percent shooting for the game.

The win pushed Box Elder (21-1) into tonight's semifinal and one win away from having the opportunity to defend their 2018 state championship. It also gave the Bears a second straight win over their biggest Northern C rival, the Huskies. But, while excited for his team, Rosette said, with Turner on deck, there's no time to look back, or too far ahead.

"I'm really proud of the girls today," Rosette said. "They responded. They played great team basketball today. We're a veteran team, and we knew we could recover from their (Huskies) hot start. So I'm proud of the girls for that.

"And there's no days off at this tournament," he continued. "Turner played us very tough both times we played them this year. They are a very good team and they came out and showed that this morning. So all our focus is on them (Tornadoes) right now. We'll put a game plan together, and get ready to come back tomorrow and we expect it to be a really tough game."

Tornadoes into the Semis

The Turner Tornadoes may have been nervous before their Northern C opener against the Simms Tigers Wednesday morning inside the Four Seasons Arena, but in their second straight appearance at the divisional tournament, the moment wasn't too big.

Turner erased a 23-21 halftime deficit to beat the 8C champion Tigers 62-54 Wednesday morning in Great Falls, and advance to their first Northern C semifinal in more than two decades.

"We were nervous," Turner junior Sarah Billmayer said. "But this isn't like last year. Going in we knew we could do it today. We knew, if we just came in and played tough, we could win."

The Tornadoes were tough, with Shyan Krass scoring six first-quarter points to give Turner a 12-7 lead. Simms responded with an 8-2 run in the second, and took a two-point lead into halftime.

But, Turner, the third-place team from the loaded 9C, wasn't going to be denied. The Tornadoes went on an 11-2 run in the third period, sparked by 3-pointers from Billmayer and Raegan Conlan, and led 44-39 with eight minutes left. From there, Simms closed the gap to two points on several occasions in the fourth quarter, but Turner had the answers. Krass was dominant in the post in the final stanza, and Billmayer salted the game away at the charity stripe.

"Knowing Simms was the district champion, we knew this would be a tough game," Billmayer said. "But we know we can play with anybody, and I thought we played really tough today."

Billmayer and Krass were certainly too tough for the Tigers to handle as both recorded double-doubles. Billmayer finished with 19 points and 11 rebounds, while Krass had 19 and 10. Conlan added 10 points as the Tornadoes shot 39 percent and made four triples. Simms got a game-high 20 points from Janessa Willekes, but the Tigers also committed 25 turnovers.

Now, Turner (16-6) will turn its attention to tonight's semifinal against Box Elder, and with a team that returned all five starters from last year's magical run to the Northern C, the Tornadoes are ready to take it further.

"We believe we can make it to state, that's our goal," Billmayer said. "We have played Box Elder and Fort Benton and they're the two toughest teams here. So we know if we play our game, we can play with anybody."

Tri-City stops Longhorns

Wednesday must have felt like deja vu for the Fort Benton Longhorns.

In 2018, Fort Benton knocked off Box Elder in the District 9C championship game, only to lose to Tri-City in the opening round of the Northern C four days later. Wednesday night in Great Falls, it happened again.

In the quarterfinals of the 2019 Northern C girls tournament inside the Four Seasons Arena, the 9C champion Longhorns couldn't capitalize on last week's win over Box Elder as they fell to the Tri-City Titans 53-39.

Fort Benton started slow, but got a 3-pointer from Aspen Giese in the first quarter to only trail the Titans, the third-place team from the 8C, 12-11 after one quarter. Giese would add another triple in the second stanza, but the Titans took a 21-17 lead into intermission.

However, in the third quarter, Giese left the Fort Benton lineup with an injury, and things started to unravel from there. Tri-City went on an 18-4 run and led 39-25 after three, and the Horns could never catch up.

Fort Benton struggled shooting the ball all night, as they connected on just 29 percent of their shots from the field and the Longhorns also committed an uncharacteristic 20 turnovers. Fort Benton, which got a team-high nine points from Megan Clark, also had no answers for the Titan's Brianna Bergum, who finished with 19 points and nine rebounds.

The loss dropped the Longhorns (19-3) into a loser-out game this afternoon with Power.

Tonight's Northern C semifinals will start with 9C stalwarts Box Elder and Turner meeting at 7, followed by Tri-City and Roy-Winifred at 8:30. The winners of those two games will meet in Friday night's championship game at 8 p.m. The top two teams from the Northern C advance to the Class C state tourney next weekend in Great Falls.

Turner 62, Simms 54

Simms 7 16 16 15 - 54

Turner 12 9 23 18 - 62

Simms - Taylor Jones 12, Janessa Willekes 20, Draylen Sawyer 2, Madi Cicon 8, Elyssa Willekes 10, Adrianna Roherer 2.

Turner - Raegan Conlan 10, Sarah Billmayer 19, Rylee Conlan 5, Melanie Watkins 7, Brandy Calvert 2, Shyan Krass 19.

3-pointers: Jones 2, Willekes 2, Cicon 1, Raegan Conlan 1, Billmayer 2, Rylee Conlan 1. Fouls: Simms 19, Turner 18, Fouled out: Jones.

Box Elder 60, Belt 51

Box Elder 17 15 15 13 - 60

Belt 20 6 12 13 - 51

Box Elder - Sarah Parisian 2, Eve The Boy 6, Maddie Wolf Chief 8, Lilly Gopher 15, Angela Gopher 3, Kyla Momberg 3, Joelnell Momberg 23.

Belt - Kolby Pimperton 12, Morgan Cooper 11, Lindsey Paulson 2, Kyelie Marquis 1, Brooke Schraner 10, Shelby Paulson 10, Abby Gliko 3, Adelle Meissner 3.

3-pointers: The Boy 1, L. Gopher 3, J. Momberg 4, Pimperton 3, Cooper 2, Paulson 1, Schraner 1, S. Paulson 1. Fouls: Box Elder 16, Belt 15, Fouled out: None.

Tri-City 53, Fort Benton 39

Fort Benton 11 6 8 14 - 39

Tri-City 12 9 18 14 - 53

Fort Benton - Cassie Nack 8, McKenzie Clark 6, Ashlee Wang 1, Aspen Giese 6, Abby Clark 1, Maci Mloinario 6, Megan Clark 9, McKenna Hanford 2.

Tri-City - Chloe Derks 7, Samielle Connerton 13, Kristen Vincent 6, Brooke Ganot 2, Claire Srtevenson 2, Danille Horan 4, Brielle Bergum 19.

3-pointers: Giese 2, Clark 3, Connerton 1. Fouls: Fort Benton 22, Tri-City 15, Fouled out: McKenzie Clark.