9C girls teams poised to make noise in Great Falls

The last time the Box Elder girls basketball team lost a game, it was inside the Four Seasons Arena last February, in the consolation semifinals of the 2015 Northern C girls divisional tournament.

Fast forward one year, and the Bears (21-0) return to the Four Seasons sporting a perfect record and a District 9C championship. And this time around, the Bears have no intentions of the Four Seasons being the site of their last loss of the season.

Box Elder, along with fellow 9C stalwarts Chinook (17-3) and Chester/J-I (11-11) begin play at the Northern C girls tourney Wednesday and Thursday in Great Falls, where the top two teams will advance to the Class C state tournament in two weeks, also in Great Falls.

The Bears won’t play until Thursday morning, and they don’t know their opponent yet. Wednesday’s first-round game between Valier, the third seed from the 10C and Roy-Winifred, the No. 3 from the 8C will determine Box Elder’s first-round matchup. Also in the Bears’ half of the draw is 8C runner-up Centerville and 10C runner-up Dutton-Brady.

Of those four potential opponents, the Miners of Centerville may be the toughest, but with a deep roster, led by Tyrah Gopher, Tia Russell, Minne and Jude The Boy, Alyssa LaMere, and so many others, the Bears are certainly the favorite to reach Saturday night’s championship game.

“We think we can come out and compete,” said Box Elder head coach Joel Rosette. “We always have one of the tougher divisions so we just want to go out and compete and show that we are one of the better teams. We are just going to try and do what we have done all season, pressure people, push the ball, and play that up and down game.”

Of course, on the other side of the draw is not only Box Elder’s two rivals from the 9C, but also the Belt Huskies, who just captured their seventh straight district title, and have won about as many Northern C titles as well. Head coach Jeff Graham’s squad is once again loaded this season, and for anybody to beat Belt this week, they’ll have to play a near-perfect game.

The Sugarbeeters will get that chance first. They meet the Huskies Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. in the opening round. Chinook gave Box Elder a tough game in the 9C title bout, and with veterans Brooke Nicholson, Brooke Elliot, Taylor Neibauer and Kelsey Mathon leading the way, head coach Molli Rose’ team is looking forward to playing in its fifth straight Northern C.

“We’ve had our ups and downs, but through it all, the girls have played with maturity and integrity all season,” Rose said. “And I think we learned a lot from the games we played here (district tournament). I think we’re in a good spot right now, and we’re looking forward to going down to divisionals and continuing to play even better.”

The challenge of beating Belt will be great for Chinook, but the Beeters have had a lot of success in recent Northern C tournament history so, win or lose against the Huskies, look for Chinook to make a run deep into the tournament.

Northern C experience is something C/J-I doesn’t have recently. The Hawks are returning to Great Falls for the first time in three years, and they got there the hard way. C/J-I lost in the first round of the 9C tourney last week, but won three straight games to punch their ticket to the Northern C. The Hawks are young, with their only seniors being Madeline Woods, Kristina Dahinden and Peyton Cole. But they certainly have talent, with sharp-shooter Korrin Harmon, Kendahl Knapton and freshman Khloe Kammerzell, among others, and that should help them in their opening game against 10C champion Great Falls Central Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.

“We’re a young team,” C/J-I head coach Jerry Kulpas said. “But, you can see us just getting better and better. And I think that will continue at divisionals. These kids have stepped up all year, and I think they’ll do the same moving forward.”

And there’s no better place to step up than at the Northern C. It’s arguably one of the toughest tournaments in all of Montana girls high school basketball, and with so many strong teams in the field this week, the 2016 version is no different.

What is a little different, though is the schedule. With the girls playing half of their games on Wednesday and half on Thursday, two teams in the semifinals will get a day off, while the other two won’t. The semis will be played Friday afternoon, while the consolation and championship games will be played at 7 and 8:30 p.m, respectively on Saturday night. If a challenge game is needed, it will be back in Great Falls Monday night.

No matter the format, the tournament is an exciting time for all the 9C teams going, and for Box Elder it’s also the extension of what has been a perfect season so far.

“We are looking forward to it,” Rosette said. “We got some experience playing down there last season, and we have played a tough schedule this year, so we feel like we’re well prepared for it.”

The Northern C girls tournament starts Wednesday night at 5:30 p.m. and runs through Saturday night in Great Falls. The top two teams advance to the Class C state tournament March 10-12, also in Great Falls.