Great Knights: North Star girls advance

Mistakes are magnified come tournament time, and the Big Sandy Pioneers know they let a winnable game slip away against the North Star Knights in the District 9C girls semifinals.

The No. 2-seeded Knights defeated the No. 3 Pioneers 48-35 Thursday night at the Havre High Gymnasium. With the semifinal win, the Knights will face Chinook Saturday night at 6 p.m. for the 9C title. The loss puts the Pioneers in tonight’s 6:30 loser-out game against Turner.

“They (North Star) are a very smart team. They always seem to use their best tools at the best time,” Big Sandy head coach Serena Cator said. “We couldn’t stop the penetration, we couldn’t stop the slash, and then we got into foul trouble. I wasn’t aware of the foul trouble, so that was my responsibility and my fault, but we also got outrebounded by 12. There were just too many little things that we didn’t do well enough and that kept us from getting over that hump.”

North Star got off to a 12-10 first quarter lead and maintained a lead all night long.

But the Knights (15-5) really started to run away with game in the second quarter, outscoring the Pioneers 18-7 and taking a 30-17 lead. The Knights got rolling early because of the play by Bettie Carlon. Carlon finished the contest with 13 points and grabbed nine in the first half, working against the Big Sandy zone defense out of the high post. Carlon was able to find the holes and gaps and get to the basket. She also gave the Knights plenty of second-chance opportunities with six offensive boards in the first half.

“When Big Sandy went to a 1-2-2 on defense we wanted to spread them out and isolate Bettie right in the middle,” North Star head coach Griff Bye said. “When we do that we can let her create a lot, and she does a very good job of that.”

Tylynn Rettig and Mackenzie Hansen scored 10 points each for the Knights who shot 31 percent from the field. North Star also shot 50 percent from 3-point range with Hansen hitting two of the team’s four bombs. Carlon finished with 12 rebounds as the Knights finished with 35 compared to the Pioneers’ 28 boards.

The Pioneers (11-9) did climb back into contention in the second half, but a lot of that had to do with the Knights slowing the pace way down and chewing large chunks of time off the clock by passing the ball around the perimeter against a lackluster Big Sandy zone. Molly Herron did have another nice game with a team-high 15 points, and she tried to get the Pioneers past that 10-point gap that North Star kept at all second half. An early fourth quarter layup closed the gap to 40-31, but that was as close as Herron and the Pioneers would get as time ran out.

Brooke Leader scored 12 as just four Big Sandy players got in on the scoring action. Michelle Maxwell led the Pioneers with 13 total boards as the Pioneers shot over 38 percent from the field. While running out of time, Herron, Leader, and Gasvoda also ran out of fouls, all fouling out late in the fourth quarter.

The Knights will face Chinook Saturday night at 6 p.m. for the 9C title. The loss puts the Pioneers in tonight’s 6:30 p.m. loser out game against Turner. The championship game between the Beeters and Knights is a rematch of last year’s title tilt in Havre.

North Star 48, Big Sandy 35

North Star 12 18 9 9 – 48

Big Sandy 10 7 10 8 – 35

North Star – Mackenzie Hansen 2-13 4-6 10, Delainey Spicher 1-4 0-0 2, Graysen Spicher 2-5 0-0 4, Tylynn Rettig 2-5 5-10 10, Bettie Carlon 4-10 5-6 13, Alissa Borlaug 2-2 0-1 5, Whitney Wendland 0-3 0-0 0, Sheridan O'Neil 2-5 0-4 4. Totals 15-47 14-27 48.

Big Sandy – Brooke Leader 6-11 0-0 12; Molly Herron 7-13 1-3 15, Abby Gregory 1-3 0-0 2, Shelby Gasvoda 0-3 0-0 0, Maddy Reichelt 0-2 0-0 0, Kylie Cline 3-7 0-0 6, Michelle Maxwell 0-5 0-2 0. Totals 17-44 1-5 35.

3-pointers: North Star 4-8 (Hansen 2), Big Sandy 0-6; Rebounds: North Star 35 (Carlon 12), Big Sandy 28 (Maxwell 13); Fouls North Star 12, Big Sandy 22; Fouled out: Leader, Herron, Gasvoda.