George Ferguson Havre Daily News sports editor gferguson@havredailynews.com
Big Sandy head coach Roy Lackner is always apprehensive about playing in the semifinals of the District 9C girls basketball tournament. That’s because his top-seeded Pioneers usually have a bye and have to wait a day to get on the floor. Throw in the fact that on Thursday afternoon, the Pioneers were facing one of their biggest tournament rivals, the Rocky Boy Morning Stars, and one could have the makings for a tough game for the Pioneers. But from the outset Thursday, that didn’t turn out to be the case. Big Sandy looked poised, prepared and ready to play, and the Pioneers easily advanced to Saturday night’s championship game as they beat the Morning Stars 64-48 Thursday afternoon at the HHS gymnasium. “Even though we only beat them by two earlier in the season, we weren’t really nervous to play today,” Big Sandy senior Josi Herron said. “I thought we came out ready to play and we started strong against them. We expect to be here, we expect to be playing for the championship, so we were ready for this game.” The Pioneers used an early fullcourt- press to force Rocky Boy into a game the Morning Stars weren’t ready for. In the first two minutes, Big Sandy grabbed three steals, turning those into easy baskets, which eventually led to a quick 8-1 lead. Offensively, Big Sandy also pushed the pace as defensive rebounds by Laci Keller turned into run outs for the Pioneers. Herron, Kourtney Danreuther and Devin Lackner all got easy layups and all three also knocked down 3-pointers early as Big Sandy staked a 26-12 first-quarter lead and then outscored the Morning Stars 19-9 to lead 45-21 at halftime. “I didn't know what to really expect,” Lackner said. “We’ve had kids out sick and hurt so we weren’t too sure how we’d play. But we knew if we pressed theme early, they might make some turnovers and then our transition game would get going. That’s what happened, and also we were making shots from the outside and when we do that we’re tough to beat. Give Rocky Boy credit, they kept playing and they found ways to break our press, but we shot it well from the outside and when we’re making shots, I just think we’re a different team. So it was a good first game for us.” The Morning Stars did keep pushing in the second half. Behind strong play by Sabrina LaForge and Martina St. Pierre, the Morning Stars outscored the Pioneers 27-19 in the second half. But by that point the damage had been done and Rocky Boy didn’t have the time to come back like it did in Wednesday’s win over Chinook. Keller led all scorers with 21 points and 14 rebounds, but Danreuther had a huge game as well. The senior guard poured in 19 points and hit two three’s to go along with six steals, while Herron chipped in with 11 points and three assists. Rocky Boy got nine points from La- Forge and seven by freshman Caitlin Standing Rock, while three other players scored six points each for the Morning Stars. The Morning Stars (12-8) are still in the hunt for a divisional title berth. They will face Hays-Lodge Pole today in a loser-out game. And the Pioneers, well they are right where they were expected to be, back in the 9C championship game. Big Sandy (19-1) will face North Star in the girls title game Saturday at 6:30 p.m. “We’re ready,” Lackner said. “This time of year, you better be ready to play every game, and our kids will be ready to get after it on Saturday night.”
