Bears roar into girls semifinals

No matter how a team performs, no matter its record during the regular season, the first day of the District 9C tournament always provides a fresh start.

That’s how the Turner girls basketball team was looking at Wednesday’s opening game of the 2014 District 9C girls basketball tournament at the Havre High gymnasium. But the Box Elder Bears had other ideas. The Bears made the opener more of the same as they raced past the Tornadoes 76-30, setting up a showdown with top-seeded Chinook in the semifinals this afternoon.

Box Elder used a 28-point second quarter to put a vastly improved Turner team in a big hole, a hole the Tornadoes just couldn’t climb out of.

“I thought we started to play really well in the second quarter,” veteran Box Elder head coach Joel Rosette said. “We shared the ball really well, and we were aggressive on offense. We picked up the defensive intensity, too. I thought we did a good job of pressuring them (Tornadoes) all game.”

Turner didn’t play poorly at the start. But two quick buckets off steals by Leilani Gardipee helped the Bears grab a 13-6 lead after one quarter. And that was only the beginning.

Box Elder exploded in the second stanza, going on a 17-2 run on offense, and holding Turner without a field goal for the entire period. Stephanie Sutherland hit a 3-pointer during the run, while Kiona Gardipee had two straight layups off steals. In fact, steals played a huge part in Box Elder out-scoring the Tornadoes 28-3 in the second quarter as Turner turned it over 13 times in the frame and a whopping 32 times in the contest.

But as rough as things were for the Tornadoes, trailing 41-9 at the break, one thing Turner never does is quit, and they didn’t on Wednesday. Ella Billmayer hit a pair of threes in the third quarter, while offensively, Turner played much better. It wasn’t enough to catch the red-hot Bears, who shot 43 percent from the field and 73 percent from the free-throw-line, but it still impressed first-year head coach Jeff Nix.

“Their (Bears) press really wore us out,” Nix said. “Their depth was also a big factor. We just ran out of steam.

“But this team never quit,” he continued. “They showed up in the second half and put some points on the board. They didn’t give up and played hard for all four quarters.”

Turner’s effort was great, but so was Box Elder’s play on both ends of the floor. The Bears had 11 different players score, they were a solid 11-for-15 from the charity stripe and they out-rebounded the Tornadoes 43-25 despite being one of the most undersized teams in the 9C.

Sutherland led the way with 13 points, but Box Elder’s bench proved large, too. Kiona Gardipee and Jaynee Parisian each scored 10 points off the pine, while Leilani Gardipee added eight. Tyrah Gopher pulled down 11 rebounds for the Bears, who improved to 11-8 on the season.

In the loss, Turner (3-16) got a game-high 15 points and five boards from Billmayer, who played in this tournament as an eighth-grader a year ago. Rennay Watkins added seven points and Lyndsay Hutton had seven rebounds for the Tornadoes, who will face either Big Sandy or North Star in a loser-out game Friday night at 6 p.m.

“We came here to show we can play,” Nix said. “We’ll learn from this. I think we’ve gotten better and better with each week this season. And I’m proud of the way we didn’t quit today.”

While Turner waits for its next opponent, the Bears know exactly who they’ll face next. In the semifinals for the seventh straight season, Box Elder will now take on the top-seeded Sugarbeeters (17-1). Chinook swept Box Elder during the regular season, but the Bears hung tough in both games.

“It’s a tough matchup for us,” Rosette said. “They (Beeters) are very physical, and we’re a lot shorter. So we have to play really solid defense for the entire game. We have to find ways to be physical with them, and we have to be efficient offensively. It will be a tough game.”

Box Elder 76, Turner 30

Turner 6 3 10 11 – 30

Box Elder 13 28 20 15 – 76

Turner – Ella Billmayer 5-16 3-6 15, Rennay Watkins 2-3 3-7 7, Kristina Conlan 1-10 1-4 4, Lyndsay Hutton 1-5 2-4 4, Jaye Marie Anderson 0-2 0-0 0, Charley Anderson 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 9-37 2-4 30.

Box Elder – Alyssa Lamere 3-4 1-2 7. Kiona Gardipee 5-6 0-0 10, Tia Russell 2-3 0-0 4, Leilani Gardipee 4-8 0-0 8, Misty Baker 0-1 1-2 1, Aayra Long Fox 2-4 0-0 4, Alicia Wolf Chief 3-7 0-0 6, Krista Chief Stick 2-9 0-0 4, Stephanie Sutherland 4-9 4-5 13, Tyrah Gopher 2-6 3-4 7, Jaynee Parisian 4-6 2-2 10, Dominque Nault 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 32-65 11-15 76.

3-pointers: Turner 3-13 (Billmayer 2, Conlan 1), Box Elder 1-10 (Sutherland); Rebounds: Turner 25 (Billmayer 6), Box Elder 43 (Sutherland 11); Fouls: Turner 13, Box Elder 21; Fouled out: None.