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Box Elder, Chinook advance to 9C title game

As the no. 1 seed in the District 9C girls basketball tournament at Havre High Gymnasium, there is much expected of the Box Elder Bears this postseason. They have lived up to the task so far with a win to open the tournament and now a 55-37 win over the defending state champions Fort Benton Longhorns in the semifinals on Friday night.

It took a couple minutes for either team to get on the scoreboard. About a minute and a half into the opening quarter, Cloe Kalanick got a layup to go down to give Fort Benton the lead. The Bears responded with a pair of buckets to take a 4-2 lead. Ashlee Wang knocked down a jumper to tie the game halfway through the first.

Kyla Momberg nailed a 3-pointer to give Box Elder the lead and a free throw from Angela Gopher extended it. Fort Benton's Casha Corder grabbed a steal and converted it into a bucket. After Momberg made a free throw, Wang knocked down a three to tie the game, 9-9, with just under two minutes left in the frame.

In the final 40 seconds of the quarter, the Bears grabbed control of the game. After Breanna Bacon knocked down a free throw to give Box Elder the lead, Annalise Johnson scored a bucket while being fouled. Bacon then made a bucket and one free throw to further stretch the lead. In the final ten seconds of the quarter, Momberg and Johnson made back-to-back baskets to give Box Elder a 19-9 lead to end the quarter.

"I think it was all our defensive effort and we stayed on the glass pretty good," Box Elder head coach Joel Rosette said about the run.

The second quarter saw both teams struggle to put the ball through the hoop. Even with multiple trips to the free-throw line for both teams, the score went unchanged. It was not until about three minutes into the quarter did Hailee Wang score for the Longhorns to break the stalemate.

But the Longhorns could not crawl their way back as the Bears went on a 7-1 run over the next few minutes. Mariah Arkinson got the run started with a three. After a Fort Benton free throw, Meiyah Sutherland knocked down some free throws and Bacon scored to give Box Elder a 26-12. Despite some late buckets from Fort Benton, Box Elder went into halftime with a 30-16 lead.

In the third quarter, the Longhorns tried to battle their way back. A three from Ashlee Wang cut the deficit to 36-26 with about a minute left in the quarter. But Momberg got a bucket to stretch the lead to 38-26 heading to the final quarter.

Looking to make things easier on themselves down the stretch, the Bears started the fourth on a 5-0 run. Over the last eight minutes, the Bears slowly pulled away to clinch their spot in the championship game.

Momberg finished the game with a double-double for the Bears as she recorded 22 points and 13 rebounds. Arkinson also played well with 12 points on 5-for-10 shooting from the field. As a team, the Bears grabbed 39 rebounds, 16 of them coming on the offensive end.

Ashlee Wang led Fort Benton with 17 points as she shot 7-for-12 from the field and 3-for-6 from three. With the loss, Fort Benton will have to play Chester-Joplin-Inverness in a loser-out game on Saturday morning. While the Longhorns are more than capable of making a run in the consolation games, Fort Benton head coach Eddie Fultz knows that it will be a challenge.

"The Saturday morning game after losing the Friday night semifinal is the toughest game in the world to play," Fultz said. "We're going to have to find all the grit and grime we can and see if we can gut one out tomorrow morning."

The Bears now advance to the championship game to face Chinook. If the Bears want to bring a district championship, they will need to keep up their defensive pressure.

"I think (we need to) maintain our focus defensively through the whole game," Rosette said. "Staying within our system, the things we like to do and try to make them do a lot more."

Sugarbeeters outlast Thunderbirds

In the other semifinal game on Friday night, the Chinook Sugarbeeters and Hays-Lodgepole Thunderbirds battled throughout the contest. With the game tied in the final moments, Chinook's Bree Swanson nailed a 3-pointer to give the Sugarbeeters a 51-48 lead. The Sugarbeeters then held on for the win to advance to the championship game.

"We told them to just keep playing your game. Don't get tight in those games and take those opportunities and just go. Don't hesitate," Chinook head coach Mike Jones said about pulling out the close victory. "With that three, wwe didn't hesitate. We just shot it and it went in."

It was a slow start for both offenses as the first point of the game came from a Hallie Neibauer free throw. HLP's Nashone Shambo scored the first field goal of the game with a layup three minutes in. The Sugarbeeters and Thunderbirds then went on to exchange scores as HLP led, 4-3, halfway through the opening quarter.

After Neibauer knocked down a free throw to tie the game, the Thunderbirds went on a 5-0 run to end the frame. Judemia Gray first made a layup to take the lead and a 3-pointer from Shambo gave HLP a 9-4 lead to end the quarter. Jones credited the HLP defensive pressure for getting the Sugarbeeters away from their game plan.

"We kind of forgot what we wanted to do, which was to get to the high post and make sure that we kept those corners open," Jones said.

The Thunderbirds maintained that momentum as they scored a pair of baskets to start the second quarter. After a Chinook free throw, Jaedyn Chandler scored to stretch the lead to 15-5. The Sugarbeeters responded with an 8-2 run. Neibauer made a three and a layup during this stretch to help Chinook cut the deficit to 17-13 with two minutes left in the half. Alliya Pretty Paint and Nina Fox scored some buckets to help HLP stretch the lead again. A Chinook free throw cut the deficit to 21-14 heading to halftime.

The Sugarbeeters started the second half strong with a 6-0 run. Chandler made a three to try to stall Chinook's momentum, but a bucket from Mya Berreth and a three from Swanson gave Chinook a 25-24 lead. Through the rest of the quarter, the Sugarbeeters and Thunderbirds exchanged baskets. In the closing moments of the quarter, Britton Elliot made a three to give Chinook a 38-33 lead heading to the fourth. After holding the lead at halftime, HLP head coach Corey Morgan believes they came out flat to start the second half.

"In the second half, we came out a little cold," Morgan said. "Not as aggressive because we were in foul trouble so our girls had to hold back a little bit."

The Sugarbeeters maintained momentum as they held a steady lead through most of the final quarter. With about two and a half minutes left, Chinook had built itself a 48-40 lead. But with little time remaining, the Thunderbirds were able to find a spark.

Pretty Paint gave the Thunderbirds a chance as she knocked down some free throws. Chandler then nailed a three to cut the deficit to 48-45 with under a minute and a half left. After a Chinook turnover, Gray knocked down the three to tie the game with 45 seconds remaining.

But on the Sugarbeeters' next possession, Swanson knocked down a three from the corner to give Chinook a late lead. The Thunderbirds attempted a three at the buzzer but it was no good. Neibauer finished the game with 19 points and 11 rebounds for a double-double. Swanson contributed 11 points as she went 4-for-8 from the field and 2-for-4 from three.

Gray led the Thunderbirds with 18 points as she went 8-for-14 from the field. Chandler scored 11 points as she shot 3-for-7 from deep. HLP will now try to make a run in the consolation bracket, starting with a game against North Star. If they want to keep the season alive, the Thunderbirds will have to quickly move on from their loss.

"We got to have a short memory, keep our heads up and realize that we can still go to divisonials," Morgan said. "We just got to power through."

Chinook will play Box Elder in the 9C title game on Saturday night. As they get ready to face the no. 1 seed Bears, Jones knows they will need to be resilient if they want to compete.

"They're going to bring a lot of pressure much like tonight so we got to make sure we're calm, confident and take what they give us," Jones said. "We're going to have some turnovers, they're going to cause them. We got to make sure that we remain composed and move on from them."

Box Elder and Chinook will play for the 9C championship Saturday night at 5:30 p.m. at HHS Gymnasium. In a pair of loser-out games, Fort Benton will play CJI at 9:30 a.m. and HLP will play North Star at 11 a.m.

Box Elder 55, Fort Benton 37

FB - 9 7 10 11 - 37

BE - 19 11 8 17 - 55

FB - Ashlee Wang 17, Hailee Wang 8, Casha Corder 6, Cloe Kalanick 4, Sarah Clark 2.

BE - Kyla Momberg 22, Mariah Arkinson 12, Breanna Bacon 7, Annalise Johnson 6, Angela Gopher 4, Makaela Kelly 2, Meiyah Sutherland 2.

3-pointers: FB 4-11 (Ashlee Wang 3, Hailee Wang 1), BE 2-19 (Mariah Arkinson 1, Kyla Momberg 1). Fouls: FB 16, BE 17. Fouled Out: Casha Corder.

Chinook 51, HLP 48

CHI - 4 10 24 13 - 51

HLP - 9 12 12 15 - 48

CHI - Hallie Neibauer 19, Bree Swanson 11, Mya Berreth 9, Britton Elliot 5, Allison Powell 4, Alexus Seymour 3.

HLP - Judemia Gray 18, Jaedyn Chandler 11, Alliya Pretty Paint 8, Nashone Shambo 7, Nina Fox 2, Angela Blackcrow 2.

3-pointers: CHI 6-15 (Hallie Neibauer 3, Bree Swanson 2, Britton Elliot 1), HLP 5-20 (Jaedyn Chandler 3, Nashone Shambo 1, Judemia Gray 1). Fouls: CHI 14, HLP 18. Fouled Out: Jaedyn Chandler.

 

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