9C girls will be a factor at the Northern C

The 2018 District 9C girls basketball tournament finished with a wild ending. Just three days removed, however, three 9C teams will get right back to business.

District 9C champion Fort Benton, top-ranked Box Elder and Cinderella Turner are all playing in the Northern C Divisional this week in Great Falls. The Northern C girls tournament begins tonight and runs through Saturday night at the Four Seasons Arena.

And all three 9C squads are looking for more after an emotional and challenging 9C tournament.

Fort Benton (19-2) shocked Box Elder in last Saturday's 9C championship game. The Longhorns beat the previously undefeated Bears on a buzzer beater in overtime, after having lost to the Bears twice during the regular season. It was Fort Benton's second 9C title in the last four years, and this week marks the fourth straight trip to the Northern C for head coach Cassie Pimperton's club.

And while Fort Benton is riding high after last weekend's thrilling triumph, and the Longhorns are loaded with talent, including star freshman Aspen Giese, veteran Leah Gannon, and sophomores McKenzie and Megan Clark, among others, Fort Benton's road in the Northern C this week will be a challenging one.

"The 8C is brutal," Pimperton said. "We have two teams from the 8C on our side of the bracket. We have to go to work. They have a lot of size and the kids will just need to keep fighting."

The Longhorns begin tourney play with Tri-Cities (15-6), the third-place team from the 8C. That game tips tonight at 7. Fort Benton is also on the same side of the bracket as 10C champion Simms and Winnett-Grass Range. That first-round matchup is slated for 8:30 tonight, and while Simms (19-2) is the district champion in that game, and the Tigers have put together an impressive season, Winnett-Grass Range (17-3) comes into the tournament having lost just three games all year, and those were to powerhouse Belt. So, the Rangers are likely the favorites to advance to the semifinals Friday night.

Of course, Belt, which is the defending Northern C and Class C state champion, sits atop the top half of the bracket, and the 21-0 Huskies will be heavily favored to win the Northern C again this year, as head coach Jeff Graham's team is filled with talent and depth. But the Huskies also know their side of the bracket in Great Falls will be a tough one.

Belt will await the winner of Turner and Heart Butte, which tips off the girls tourney tonight at 5:30. The Tornadoes (14-8) will be the darlings of the Northern C this week, as they're making their first trip to Great Falls since 1978. But the Tornadoes won't just be satisfied with playing in the Northern C - they want to win. And, with standouts like Sarah Billmayer and Shyan Krass, plus plenty of depth, the Tornadoes will be favored tonight against the Warriors (15-7), who finished third in the 10C last weekend. If Turner can get by Heart Butte, it will give them a dream chance to play Belt Thursday morning in the last girls quarterfinal.

"We have to try to not get overwhelmed," Turner head coach Jennifer Baird said. "The Four Seasons is a big arena and these kids haven't been in it before. It's going to be kind of eye-opening to go into that. So hopefully they can just hold their heads, not get overwhelmed too much and go play the game they know how to play."

The Northern C will be an eye-opening experience for Turner, but it won't be for Box Elder (20-1). The Bears are now old-hands at playing in the Four Seasons Arena, and while the loss to Fort Benton last Saturday night in Havre was heartbreaking, Box Elder's goals of winning the divisional title, and heading back to the state tournament, haven't changed.

"I think overall we have to regroup after that loss because that is a tough one to deal with," Box Elder head coach Joel Rosette said after last Saturday's loss in the 9C title game. "We need to get back to our principles. We will play a few teams we don't know, but hopefully we do well. We played well in the 9C, we just have to get back to our fundamentals. We will have three full days to practice and prepare."

Box Elder, led by Lilly Gopher, Cecelia Vielle and Joelnell Momberg, will still be one of the teams to beat this week in Great Falls. It's just the Bears' path is a little different. They open with a difficult game against 10C runner-up Great Falls Central (18-3), Thursday at 9:30 a.m. If the Bears can get past a talented Mustang squad, which has put together a great year, and has star Bryn Anderson, they'll more than likely get a semifinal rematch with Belt Friday. The Bears gave the Huskies all they could handle in last year's Northern C semifinal, and the two teams were likely going to clash again this year at some point.

The Northern C will also be a dogfight again this year, not just because of how many good teams there are in the field, but also because only two teams will advance to the Class C state tournament in Butte in two weeks. The tournament starts tonight at 5:30 and runs through Saturday night's consolation game at 6:30 p.m. and the championship game at 8. If a challenge game is needed, that game will be played back in Great Falls Monday night.