ROARING BEARS

All season long, the Chinook Sugarbeeters have been the class of the District 9C in girls basketball. They lost just one game and rolled to the regular season title. But after one uncharacteristic performance, their season is suddenly hanging in the balance.

The Beeters, who were the top-seeded team entering the 9C tournament, took on fourth-seeded Box Elder in the semifinals inside the HHS gymnasium in Havre Thursday night. And in a game that had plenty of intrigue from start to finish, it was the Bears, not the Beeters, who came out on top 48-45.

The victory not only gets the Bears into the 9C championship game, it also clinches a spot for them in next week’s Northern C divisional tournament.

“I feel so happy right now, I keep just wanting to scream my heart out,” said Box Elder senior Leilani Gardipee.

Gardipee was not alone. In front of a packed house, the Bears completed a dramatic come-from-behind win after trailing 29-20 at halftime to the favored Beeters. The turning point for Box Elder came in the third quarter. Chinook had built a 16-7 lead at the end of the first quarter and got ahead by as much as 11 early in the second after a jumper by Hannah Weber. And by halftime, Chinook was in control 29-20.

That’s when everything changed.

First, Tyra Gopher scored a couple baskets inside to help trim the Chinook edge to 32-26 with 3:40 left in the third. Less than two minutes later, Tia Russell knocked down a 3-pointer to make it 32-29, and when Alicia Wolf Chief hit a trey with 43 seconds left in the third to tie game at 32-32, the Box Elder fans in attendance erupted.

But the cheering got even louder with seconds left in the third as Gardipee scored an old-fashioned three-point play to close the quarter with Box Elder in front 35-32. The run continued in the fourth, and when Jaynee Parisian nailed a three, the Bears went up 38-34 with 6:44 left to play.

Katelyn Neibauer helped keep Chinook within striking distance after a field goal and a pair of made free throws, and when Brooke Elliot scored with 3:22 left, Box Elder was in front just 42-40. That’s when Gardipee made what might have been the play of the night, knifing through the Chinook defense to score and get fouled. She completed the three-point play and gave the Bears a 45-40 advantage with 2:57 left in the fourth.

“We just had to get our momentum going,” Gardipee said. “Those (three-point plays) helped boost everyone’s confidence. We haven’t beaten Chinook in two years and wanted to beat them badly. But we weren’t going to go down without a fight, and we were able to hang in there and beat them.”

Yet, even after Garidpee pushed the lead to five, Chinook responded. Following a Brooke Nicholson free throw, Weber drilled a three and suddenly the Box Elder lead was 45-44. From here chaos ensued.

Russell scored to put the Bears back up three but a Nicholson free throw with 1:31 to play trimmed it down to 47-45. However, from that point on Chinook would not make another free throw — in fact the Beeters missed their last eight free throw attempts and were 0-2 on four different occasions where they were fouled and had a chance to tie the game.

Finally, after clinging to a 2-point lead for more than a minute, Russell made a free throw to push it to 48-45 with eight seconds left. Chinook tried desperately to get a shot off before the buzzer but was unable to. The officials did call a foul on Box Elder with no time on the clock but called it a non-shooting foul, which meant Chinook could score two points at the most, so it was waived off and the game was over.

“We knew they only had 5-6 players, so we pressured the ball all night and that helped wear them down,” Box Elder head coach Joel Rosette said. “It took four quarters, but we owned that third quarter, we got the momentum and it just carried with us. At halftime we calmed (the players) down and told them they were still in it, and the ladies believed. All year we said we could beat anyone on any given night and tonight we were able to do it against the No. 1 seed.”

Gardipee was stellar for Box Elder with 14 points. Russell added 12. Neibauer had 14 to lead Chinook, while Elliot pitched in with 10 as did Weber.

With the loss, the Beeters (17-3) will play Turner this morning and will need to win that game and defeat the winner of Chester/J-I and North Star in order to take third and move on to divisionals. Chinook also lost its chance to win a third straight district title.

“We lost our heads a little bit and that played a big part,” Chinook head coach Molli Rose said. “We have to grow from this experience and fix our mistakes and not make the ones that we did tonight.”

The Bears' ticket to divisionals is punched, but they are far from satisfied and have their sights set on the 9C championship. The only team left in their way now is Fort Benton-Geraldine, which defeated C/J-I in the other semifinal Thursday. The Bears and Longhorns will meet at 8:30 tonight to determine the district championship.

“It’s big,” Rosette said of getting to divisionals. “It’s been a few years and I thought we underachieved at the start of the season, so for my girls to see it through, especially my seniors, it’s huge.”

Box Elder 48, Chinook 45 (SF)

Chinook 16 13 3 13 – 45

Box Elder 7 13 15 13 – 48

Chinook – Brooke Nicholson 2-5 4-6 8, Hannah Weber 3-6 2-6 10, Taylor Neibauer 1-2 1-6 3, Katelyn Neibauer 3-9 8-12 14, Brooke Elliot 5-11 0-2 10. Totals: 14-34 15-32.

Box Elder – Jaynee Parisian 1-4 1-1 4, Nikayla Anderson 2-3 0-0 4, Leilani Gardipee 3-10 7-9 14, Tia Russe;; 3-11 5-8 12, Alicia Wolf Chief 2-5 0-0 5, Misty Baker 1-2 1-2 3, Tyrah Gopher 3-5 0-0 6.

Halftime: Chinook 29, Box Elder 20. 3-pointers: Chinook 2-7 (Weber 2), Box Elder 4-15 (Parisian, Gardipee, Russell, Wolf Chief). Fouled out – Nicholson.