Moving On: Box Elder girls fall to Belt, but still advance

GREAT FALLS — The Box Elders girls basketball team came into the Northern C tournament having conquered all challengers, that was of course, until the Lady Bears ran into the Belt Huskies.

Much like the Box Elder and Belt boys, it seemed like the Bears and Huskies were on a collision course to meet in the Northern C Divisional girls championship and Saturday night in Great Falls at the Four Seasons Arena, the two teams finally met.

But, for one night at least, Belt proved to be on another level, knocking off the Bears 51-35 to win yet another Northern C title. However, with its second place finish, Box Elder booked a trip to the state tournament in two weeks, which will be its first appearance at the Class C tournament since 1998.

“I think the last time that girls went was in 1998, the last time they won it,” Box Elder head coach Joel Rosette said. “So it’s a tremendous honor for us to be going. But if we are going to win it, we are going to have to beat teams like Belt. I thought that we played well at times, but it just seemed like they had an answer for everything.”

From the opening tap, the Huskies took control of the game. They jumped out to an early 8-3 lead thanks to a couple of quick scores by Kerstyn Pimperton and at the end of the first quarter, it was 17-7 Belt.

In the second quarter, the Huskies continued to build their lead and when Bailey Cooper hit her second 3-pointer of the first half, they led Box Elder 26-13. From there, Belt finished the half outscoring the Bears 7-3, which led to a 33-17 halftime lead.

“They are a very good defensive team,” Rosette said. “They did a great job. We had a lot of good looks in the first half, we just couldn’t get anything to go.”

Box Elder started the third quarter on a positive note with a trey by Jude The Boy, yet the Huskies answered with a couple of outside shots of their own and by the end of the stanza, Belt led 45-29.

In the fourth quarter, Belt continued to lock down the Bears on defense and in the final eight minutes, each team managed just six points and that meant the Huskies went on to win easily.

Dani Urik was the top scorer in the game with a 14 points. Sara Anderson and Addy Martin each had nine, while Pimperton had eight. Jaynee Parisian and Minnie The Boy each scored eight points to lead the way for Box Elder.

“I think we are definitely going to learn from this,” Rosette said. “We just didn’t play our best tonight, but we will look at things and come back here in a couple weeks and we will play better.”

While the Bears wanted to the win the Northern C title, they found out they would at least be making the trip to the state tournament Saturday morning, following Chinook’s 41-40 loss to Centerville in loser-out action. Chinook was the only team that could have challenged Box Elder, so its loss clinched a berth at state for the Bears.

The Sugarbeeters, who fell to Belt in the opening round, dug themselves a big hole against the Miners, who jumped out to an 11-1 lead after the first quarter. Chinook battled its way back into the game, but still trailed by nine heading into the fourth quarter.

Even with just over a minute to play, the Beeters found themselves down by as many as eight points. However, Chinook closed the game on a frantic rally that ended up coming just one point short.

Sierra Swank continued her solid postseason with 11 points in the loss; Brooke Nicholson added nine, while Brooke Elliot had seven. Peyton Vining was the high scorer for Centerville with 11 points, nine of which came off three 3-pointers.

Before advancing to Saturday, the Beeters had to find a way to win on Friday morning in loser-out action against Valier and thanks to a dominating effort, the Beeters did just that beating the Panthers 66-29.

Chinook scored 36 points in the first half to build a 36-16 lead and went on to win by 37 points. Nicholson was stellar, scoring 19 points and knocking down two treys. Carrie Hofer added 13 points and Abigail Ellison had 10.

While Chinook stayed alive Friday, Box Elder was looking to play its way into the Northern C championship game and achieved that objective with a 60-38 win over Centerville.

The Miners, who won just a handful of games a season ago, gave Box Elder all it could handle for a half and trailed just 27-20 after 16 minutes of regulation. But, the Bears turned up the pressure, which led to a 33-point half and as easy 22-point win.

“We didn’t come out and play with very good tempo,” Rosette said. “But we really set the tempo in the second half and made the third and fourth quarters, our quarters.”

The Bears will open the Class C state tournament on March 10 in Great Falls at 2 p.m.

Chinook 66, Valier 29, lo

Valier 8 8 4 9 -- 29

Chinook 15 21 17 13 -- 66

Valier – Jordan Stoltz 0 2-2 2; Heather Suek 2 0-1 4; Dalli Peterson 3 1-2 7; Mariah Stoltz 5 3-9 13; Malia Curry 0 1-4 1; Briggs Kwinlee 1 0-0 2. Totals: 11 7-18 29.

Chinook – Kourtney Hanson 2 0-0 4; Carrie Hofer 4 2-2 13; Abigail Ellison 5 0-1 10; Brooke Nicholson 7 3-6 19; Sierra Swank 1 0-0 2; Kelsey Mathon 1 0-0 2; Taylor Neibauer 1 0-0 2; Erin Pula 0 1-2 1; Brooke Elliot 4 0-1 9; Nicole McCracken 2 0-0 4. Totals: 27 6-12 66.

3-Point goals – Hoffer 3, Nicholson 2, Elliot 1. Fouls – Valier 15, Chinook 18.

Box Elder 60, Centerville 38, sf

Box Elder 12 15 16 17 -- 60

Centerville 11 9 11 7 -- 38

Box Elder – Eve The Boy 0 1-2 1; Minnie The Boy 1 2-2 4; Jude The Boy 7 3-5 20; Lilly Gopher 1 2-6 4; Alyssa LaMere 3 4-4 10; Tia Russell 4 2-3 11; Tyrah Gopher 5 0-0 10. Totals: 21 14-22 60.

Centerville – Kenadee Chartier 1 1-2 4; Emma Six 0 3-4 3; Peyton Vining 2 4-7 8; Makayla Paul 1 0-0 3; Lindsey Drew 3 3-8 9; Cecilia Vielle 3 5-7 11. Totals: 10 16-28 38.

3-Point goals – J. The Boy 3, Russell 1, Chartier 1, Paul 1. Fouls – Box Elder 16, Centerville 15.

Centerville 41, Chinook 40, lo

Centerville 11 11 12 7 – 41

Chinook 1 12 12 15 – 40

Centerville – Delaney Gilbert 0 4-5 4, Kendyl Chartier 2 0-1 4, Peyton Vining 3 2-4 11, Makayla Paul 1 3-4 5, Lindsey Drew 4 0-1 8, Cecilia Vielle 4 1-2 9. Totals: 14 10-17.

Chinook – Kourtney Hansopn 1 0-0 2, Abigail Ellison 1 1-2 3, Brooke Nicholson 2 4-8 9, Sierra Swank 4 3-6 11, Kelsey Mathon 1 3-9 5, Taylor Neibauer 1 1-2 3, Brooke Elliot 3 1-4 7. Totals: 13 13-31.

Fouls – CV 21, Chinook 18. Fouled out – Neibauer. 3-pointers – Vining 3, Nicholson.

Belt 51, Box Elder 35, 1st

Belt 17 16 12 6 -- 51

Box Elder 7 10 9 6 -- 35

Belt – Bailey Cooper 2-1-2 7; Sara Anderson 4 0-0 9; Addy Martin 3 2-3 9; Olivia McCafferty 0 2-2 2; Dani Urick 4 6-6 14; Kerstyn Pimperton 3 1-4 8; Kassie Hoyer 1 0-0 2. Totals: 17 12-17 51.

Box Elder – Jaynee Parisian 3 0-0 8; Minnie The Boy 3 0-0 8; Jude The Boy 3 0-0 7; Lilly Gopher 2 0-0 4; Alyssa LaMere 0 1-2 1; Tia Russell 1 0-0 2; Tyrah Gopher 1 1-2 5. Totals: 14 2-4 35.

3-Point goals – Cooper 2, Anderson 1, Martin 1, Pimperton 1, Parisian 2, M. The Boy 2, J. The Boy 1. Fouls – Belt 9, Box Elder 12.