9C girls: Box Elder, Fort Benton to meet in title game rematch

When it comes to the District 9C girls basketball tournament, the Box Elder Bears and the Fort Benton Longhorns have dominated in recent years and after both teams took care of business in the semifinals Friday, inside the HHS gymnasium, they will meet in the 9C championship game for the third time in four years.

Box Elder punched its ticket into the championship and the Northern C Divisional for the fourth year in a row after a dominating 67-27 win over Chester-Joplin-Inverness. Fort Benton, on the other hand, had a more competitive semifinal against Turner, but in the end, the Longhorns won 64-42. The championship game will be played Saturday night inside the HHS gymnasium at 8:30.

"If you want to be the best you have to beat good teams and we are excited to get a chance to play Box Elder again," Fort Benton head coach Cassie Pimperton said. "They are a great team and our girls are excited to play them. Hopefully they are excited to play us."

Against CJI, the Bears stormed out of the gates, grabbing a 20-9 lead at the end of the first quarter. By halftime, the Bears led 33-14 and in the second half, they continued to pull away until finally building a 40-point lead in the final minutes. Joelnell Momberg and Lily Gopher each scored 14 points to lead the way for Box Elder. Korrin Harmon scored seven to lead the Hawks.

"I thought our half-court defense was a big key," Box Elder head coach Joel Rosette said. "These girls work really hard. They have worked hard all season long and I am just really proud of them."

While the Bears rolled to victory, the same couldn't be said for Fort Benton, who actually fell behind to Turner in the first quarter. After the first eight minutes of play, the Tornadoes led 18-11. Yet, an 11-4 run to start the second quarter got the Longhorns within two and a 6-0 spurt to end the half gave the Longhorns a 28-23 advantage.

Melanie Watkins kept the Tornadoes in it, with a 3-pointer early in the third quarter but Abby Clark knocked down a runner and Leah Gannon nailed a shot from deep to extend the Fort Benton lead to 37-29. Watkins hit another trey in the final stanza to keep Turner within seven, but a 10-0 run by the Longhorns put the game out of reach.

"I think our depth made a really big difference." Pimperton said. "We have a lot of players and it seemed like we had a bunch of different girls step up tonight, different one's than last one. So that's good to see. No matter who we put in, they find a way."

Box Elder and Fort Benton will play in the championship game tonight at 8:30. The consolation game, which is scheduled to start at 7 p.m., will feature the winners of North Star and Turner, as well as CJI and Chinook. The top three teams advance to the Northern C Divisional next week in Great Falls.