Box Elder girls run to a District 9C title

The Box Elder Bears haven't really been pushed all season long in the District 9C, but when the girls championship game rolled around Saturday at the HHS gymnasium, they got all they could handle from the Chinook Sugarbeeters.

Yet, in the end, like their previous 20 games, the Lady Bears found a way to win. Box Elder withstood a strong Chinook run in the second half and thanks to some key buckets by Tyra Gopher and Tia Russell, the Bears won their first 9C championship in three years with a 72-61 victory.

"I feel elated right now," Box Elder head coach Joel Rosette said. "These girls have worked really hard all season long and it's great for them to see that work pay off."

The two teams battled back and forth in the first half, but after Russell went coast-to-coast for a score in the closing seconds, Box Elder took to a 39-28 lead into intermission.

In the third quarter, the Bears led by as much as 15 points, before Chinook rallied and trimmed the lead down to four with just around six minutes left to play. Unfortunately, for the Beeters, they simply had no answer for the Box Elder press, which wore down the Beeters and wrapped up the 11-point win.

"That's the way that we like to play," Rosette said. "And my girls will run through a wall for me."

Both the Bears and the Beeters will advance to the Northern C Divisional this week in Great Falls at the Four Seasons Arena.

The Chester/J-I Hawks also advanced the Northern C Saturday night, after they beat North Star 49-43 in the consolation game. Korrin Harmon hit 7 3-pointers and scored 23 points for the Hawks.