9C Extra: THIS TORNADO WARNING WAS COMING

The Turner Tornadoes are one win away from playing for the District 9C championship - a place the girls program in Turner hasn't been for a long, long time. Another place Turner hasn't been, at least to play basketball games, is the famed Four Seasons Arena in Great Falls - and the Northern C Divisional Tournament.

The Tornadoes are one win away from getting there, too.

For many years, playing for 9C championships and advancing beyond the Havre High gymnasium just weren't realistic in Turner. In fact, there was a brief period in time when, having enough players to field a varsity basketball team was difficult enough.

But in recent times, things have changed in Turner. Step-by-step, Turner has not only rebuilt its basketball program into one that has more than enough players, to one that comes to the 9C tournament to not just play, but also win games, and now, into one that finished the 2017-18 regular season as the third-best team in the 9C.

It's been a long process, and one major factor in all of it is, with the help of a rule passed by the MHSA nearly a decade ago, which allows eighth-graders to participate in high school basketball, Turner is a team that has now been together for a lengthy period of time.

The 2017-18 Tornadoes don't have a single senior. But what they do have is a roster filled with juniors who are playing their fourth year of varsity basketball, a sophomore playing her third season and three freshmen playing their second year. And has been the case, Turner is also suiting up two eighth-graders for this year's 9C tournament.

"Getting to play in eighth grade was big for us," Turner junior Rylee Conlan said. "It's given us extra time to come together as a team. It's really helped form the great bond that this team has."

Playing in the 9C tournament as an eighth-grader might be fun, but it isn't easy either. Turner's opponents over the years have been older, bigger and more experienced. But being an eighth-grade Tornado is also something that meant that you played with some of the Turner girls who initially were there for the start of Turner's rebuild, players like former All-Conference standout Ella Billmayer, who graduated last season. Billmayer's sister Sarah is now one of Turner's veteran players, though she's only a sophomore. And she says the experience of playing with her sister, starting when she was in eighth grade, was one that has helped her, and her teammates become who they are today.

"When we were young, we looked up to all the older girls who really started to help things get better," Billmayer said. "And it was a special experience to be able to play with all of them, but especially my sister. She is my role model, so because I got to play in eighth grade, I got to play with her for two years. And it was a fun experience, and it really helped me as a player."

Indeed. All of Turner's veteran players have grown immensely, and it started by playing in the 9C before they were even officially in high school. And while the learning curve was always high, the experiences players like Raegan Conlan and Melanie Watkins got while playing as eighth graders was invaluable.

"When you play as an eighth-grader, you just get so much extra experience," Conlan, who plays with her twin sister Rylee, said. "When we were young, we played in so many close games, so we learned a lot. All that practice time, and all the things we've done together since then, that also helps so much, because we know each other so well. And we have a great bond. We're a really close team."

Experience and bonds since eighth grade have helped form one of the best Turner teams in decades. The Tornadoes won 11 regular season games and finished third in the 9C regular season standings. This season came on the heels of a winning season, and a win at the 9C tournament a year ago as well, so head coach Jennifer Baird's club is continuing to rise.

But it isn't just experience and togetherness that has helped Turner reach so many new heights. They also love basketball and work hard at it. The Turner girls are regulars on the summer circuit, they put time in the gym, and they enjoy doing it. And this week in Havre, they are ready to make that work pay off by playing for a 9C trophy and a spot in next week's Northern C in Great Falls.

"We've all been playing together for a long time," Watkins said. "I think that has made us be able to play so much more together as a team. And it's going to help us get to the next level. We want to go places the Turner girls haven't been to in a long time."

And that place is advancing past the 9C. For several years, winning games in the 9C was the goal, but Baird said that those goals are much different this year. All season, she has said Turner's goal is to be playing well beyond the annual 9C tournament, an event that generally brings the entire town of Turner to Havre to support the Tornadoes.

But this year has been, and continues to be, different. Now, Turner fans have a team they're not just supporting, but they have a team that competes and wins. Yes, the Turner girls are already one of the best teams in the 9C, and that won't change no matter what happens tonight and Saturday in the HHS gymnasium.

But if Turner continues to play like it has all season long, Havre isn't going to be the last path the Tornadoes make this season. No, this Tornado has a chance to blow all the way down to Great Falls. It's a dream that started with so many of the Tornadoes suiting up as eighth-graders, and it's a dream that continues tonight and Saturday in Havre. It's a dream that's almost fulfilled, too, and one that would mean so much to so many.

"It would mean that all of our hard work, since eighth grade, and even before eighth grade, because we all always wanted to play basketball for Turner, has paid off," Billmayer said. "It would be above and beyond anything we dreamed of back then. We want to do that. We want to keep this going, for everybody in Turner, and for all the girls who played before us. It would mean so much."

Indeed. Perhaps no town loves Class C basketball as much as Turner does. And now, Turner fans have a Tornado that's blowing right through the 9C tournament, and it's a storm that's showing no signs of slowing down.