Fort Benton girls ready for a historic return to state

The Fort Benton girls basketball team has been on quite the ride this postseason. And that ride isn't over yet.

In the District 9C Tournament, they lost the championship game to North Star which snapped a three-year streak as tournament champions for the Longhorns. Fort Benton then went on a run in the Northern C Divisional to reach the championship game, where they came from behind to get revenge on North Star. Now, Fort Benton will close out its season this week at the State Class C Girls Basketball Tournament in Billings.

The Longhorns will open the tournament Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. against Plentywood. Plentywood won the District 2C Tournament and defeated Scobey in a challenge game to finish second in the Eastern C Divisional to make it to state. Fort Benton head coach Cassie Pimperton believes that Plentywood's size will provide the Longhorns a challenge.

The Longhorns of course, will be every bit the challenge for Plentywoodtoo. Fort Benton is led by three-time All-Stater Aspen Giese, as well as Maci Molinario and Megan Clark, while Emerson Giese and Ashlee Wang have really come on strong this season as well.

Fort Benton is also a high-scoring offensive squad, averaging more than 60 points per game this winter, as the Horns have lost just two games all season, and one of those was to Class A state champion Havre.

So, while Fort Benton is new to the state tournament, the Longhornss are no doubt ready.

By the time the Longhorns get on the court for state, it would have been 10 days since they last played. With this time off, Fort Benton has been focused on improving their game.

"We've been preparing, getting ourselves better at little things that we know we needed to be better at to make a postseason run," Pimperton said. "Defensive fundamentals, crashing boards, executing our offense a little bit better are all things that we spent last week working on."

If Fort Benton wins in the first round, they will face the win of the game between Melstone and Manhattan Christian that takes place tomorrow at 5:30 p.m. Melstone went 14-1 in the regular season and won the Southern C after defeating Jordan, 34-27, in the championship game. Melstone made it to the semifinals of last year's tournament.

Manhattan Christian went undefeated in the regular season but suffered their first loss of the season when Seeley-Swan defeated them, 57-51, in the Western C championship game. The loss forced Manhattan Christian to place second in the Western C.

The state tournament will begin with Saco-Whitwater-Hinsdale and Jordan playing on tomorrow at 9 a.m. Saco is looking to complete an undefeated season with a state titl as they have already won the Eastern C Divisional after defeating Plentywood, 63-54, in the championship game.

Jordan finished third in District 4C in the regular season, but they went on a run in the postseason to make it to the Southern C championship game. While they did lose to Melstone, 34-27, their second-place finish in the Southern C clinched them a berth to the state tournament.

That game's winner will play either Seeley-Swam or Roy-Winifred, who play tomorrow at 11 a.m. Seeley-Swam has yet to lose a game this season coming into the tournament. They qualified for state after defeating Manhattan Christian, 57-51, to win the Western C Divisional.

Roy-Winifred finished second in the Northern C Divisional behind Fort Benton. After a loss to the Longhorns, Roy-Winifred went on a run to the Northern C consolation game where they defeated Box Elder, 54-41. Roy-Winifred then defeated North Star, 47-34, in a challenge game to qualify for the state tournament. Last year, Roy-Winifred made it to the state championship game. However, they were named state co-champions along with Belt after the game was cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

If Fort Benton wants to run the gauntlet and take home their first state title, they will need to execute in all aspects of the game.

"Doing all the little things right, executing, playing hard, getting the hustle plays," Pimperton said. "It's just going to take a good week of basketball. It's going to be fun."

The State Class C Girls Basketball Tournament begins Wednesday. at Lockwood High School in Billings. The semifinals are scheduled for 5:30 and 7:30 p.m. Thursday. Loser-out games will take place Thursday at 1 and 3:30 p.m. and Friday at the same times. The girls consolation game is slated for 1 p.m. Saturday with the girls state championship game set to tip a 5 p.m. Saturday night.