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Morning Stars advance to state with a divisional championship
Rocky Boy's Adrienne Gopher, left, drives the ball during Saturday night's Northern B divisional championship game against Wolf Point in Cut Bank. The Morning Stars are on a magical run right now, including wins over Poplar and Wolf Point to capture their first-ever Northern B championship.
Members of the Rocky Boy girls basketball team are excited after winning the Northern B championship Saturday night in Cut Bank. The Morning Stars advanced to the Class B state tournament for the first time in school history.
Rocky Boy's Jaylynn Mitchell, left, makes a move during Saturday night's Northern B girls championship game in Cut Bank. For much more on Rocky Boy basketball, see this week's Havre Daily News sports pages.
Rocky Boy's Jaynah Gopher looks to shoot during Saturday's Northern B championship game in Cut Bank.
Sean Henry goes up for a shot during Saturday's Northern B championship game in Cut Bank.
The Rocky Boy student section cheers during Saturday's Northern B championship game in Cut Bank.
Rocky Boy players celebrate winning the Northern B title Saturday night in Cut Bank.
The 2018 Northern B champion Rocky Boy Boy Morning Stars.
SHELBY - Two weeks ago, the Rocky Boy Morning Stars did something they have never done before in girls basketball, win the District 1B championship.
And after three stellar days of basketball in Cut Bank over the weekend, Rocky Boy achieved another first, winning the Northern B Divisional championship. The Morning Stars beat Malta and Poplar to get into the championship game, then clinched the title with a 76-52 trouncing of Wolf Point Saturday night.
"It's an amazing feeling," Rocky Boy senior Sean Henry said. "It's kind of hard to believe."
Henry certainly played a key role in bringing home the title. In the championship game, she terrorized Wolf Point on both ends of the floor. With her quickness and ability to get to the basket, Henry scored 17 points and helped the Morning Stars grab a 13-2 lead. By the end of the first quarter, Rocky Boy had doubled up Wolf Point, 26-13.
At halftime, the Morning Stars led by 14 points, before Wolf Point started to rally in the third quarter. Eventually, Rocky Boy's lead would shrink to five, but a 3-point play late by Henry, followed by two free throws on a technical foul, put the Morning Stars up 12 with eight minutes remaining. Then, with a 26-8 run in the fourth quarter, Rocky Boy cruised to the 24-point win, which clinched the first Class B divisional title in the history of Morning Stars basketball.
"I think it has to do a lot with our chemistry," Rocky Boy head coach Cameron McCormick said. "These girls obviously have a of talent and skill, but I think the chemistry we have developed is an important part of it."
While Henry scored 17 points for the Morning Stars, in addition to a number of steals and assists, Adrienne Gopher and Jaylynn Mitchell were the leading scorers for Rocky Boy as each finished the game with 20 points. Jaynah Gopher also pitched in nine. Aubry Zilkoski led Wolf Point with 13, Mary Bighorn wound up with 11.
"I can't believe it," Henry said of advancing to the Class B state tournament this week in Missoula. "It's something that we have dreamed about for a long time."
The Morning Stars will go to state as the top seed from the Northern B, but their berth was wrapped up before the championship game as Poplar took third thanks to a win over Fairfield in the consolation game. Poplar will challenge Wolf Point for second Monday, but would not have been able to challenge Rocky Boy.
The two teams met in the semifinals Friday and the Morning Stars prevailed 71-70 in overtime. Henry had 22 points in the win for Rocky Boy, Adrienne Gopher had another 20 points and Mitchell finished with 11.
Rocky Boy also knocked off Malta in the quarterfinals at the Northern B Thursday. The M-Ettes grabbed a 13-8 lead at the end of the first quarter, but a 24-4 run in the fourth quarter allowed the Morning Stars to win 62-48. Adrienne Gopher scored 18 points, Henry added 16 and Sasha Coffee managed 13.
Harlem was also in action at the Northern B, but failed to advance to the state tournament. The Wildcats dropped their opening game Thursday to Fairfield 47-32. Skylee Dirden and L'Tia Lawrence both had 10 points in the loss. Kenna Pitcher had 20 for the Eagles.
The Wildcats managed to stay alive Friday with a 53-40 win over Shelby, thanks to 23 points from Lawrence. However, the run would come to an end Saturday morning in loser-out action against Poplar, as the Indians notched a 61-50 win to eliminate Harlem. Mystic Striker scored a team-high 20 points, Lawrence added 12.
Rocky Boy will open the Class B state tournament Thursday in Missoula at 3:30 p.m.
Thursday
Rocky Boy 62, Malta 48
Malta 13 13 18 4 – 48
Rocky Boy 8 18 12 24 – 62
Malta: Kelbee Denham 4, Kloie Marks 7, Erica Smith 8, Janessa Malmend 9, Ella Schye 6, Aidan Wiese 2, Raina Mortenson 6, Taylor Eggebrecht 4, Carly Garfield 2. Totals: 21 4-8.
Rocky Boy: Jaynah Gopher 3, Sean Henry 16, Adrienne Gopher 18, Sasha Coffee 13, Jaylynn Mitchell 10, Rochelle Pease 2. Totals: 18 16-21.
3-pointers: Marks, Malmend, J. Gopher, Henry 3, A. Gopher 3. Fouls: Malta 17, Rocky Boy 13. Fouled out: none.
Wolf Point 44, Shelby 35
Shelby 14 11 4 6 - 35
W. Point 9 15 11 9 - 44
Shelby – Abbey Aklestad 14, Skyler Martin 8, Brielle Aklestad 3, Madison Underdal 3, Maddy Hellinger 2, Bailey Johnson 5. Totals: 15-49 2-7 35.
Wolf Point – Semarah Wells 17, Aubry Zilkoski 9, Mary Bighorn 6, Abby Juve 8, Alyssa Archdale 2, Tori Nygard 2. Totals: 17-51 9-13 44.
3-pointers – A. Aklestad 2, B. Aklestad; Wells. Total fouls – Shl 15, WPT 12. Fouled out – none.
Friday
Rocky Boy 71, Poplar 70 (sf-ot)
Rocky Boy 14 8 14 20 15 - 71
Poplar 18 13 12 13 14 - 70
Rocky Boy: Jaynah Gopher 5, Sean Henry 22, Sasha Coffee 5, Adrienne Gopher 20, Jaylynn Mitchell 11, Rochelle Pease 8. Totals: 30 9-22.
Poplar: Alleen Russell 9, Sasha Yougman 8, Gilli Medicine Cloud 3, Chloe Belton 16, Imani Bighorn 23, Riley MacDonald 3, Hailey Brunelle 3, Holly Colgan 5. Totals: 26 11-19.
3-pointers: J. Gopher, A. Gopher, Russell, Youngman, Medicine Cloud, Belton, Bighorn, MacDonald, Brunelle. Fouls: Rocky Boy 19, Poplar 21. Fouled out: Coffee, Mitchell, Belton.
Harlem 53, Shelby 40 (lo)
Harlem 17 17 13 6 - 53
Shelby 3 16 6 15 - 40
Harlem – Mystic Striker 9, Skylee Dirden 8, L'Tia Lawrence 23, Autumn Eagleman 8, Payton Healy 5. Totals: 22-64 3-7 53
Shelby – Abbey Aklestad 4, Bailey Johnson 1, Skyler Martin 5, Brielle Aklestad 5, Madison Underdal 8, Brooke Luly 1, Kendall Anderson 6, Brogan McAllister 8, Maddy Hellinger 2. Totals: 11-73 13-22 40.
3-pointers – Dirden 2, Lawrence 3, Eagleman; Martin, Underdal, Anderson 2, McAllister. Total fouls – Har 17, She 12. Fouled out – none.
Saturday
Poplar 61, Harlem 50 (lo)
Harlem 14 14 8 14 - 50
Poplar 14 15 12 20 - 61
Harlem – Mastic Striker 20, Skylee Dirden 6, L'Tia Lawrence 12, Autumn Eagleman 7, Payton Healy 5. Totals: 20-67 8-12 50.
Poplar – Alleen Russell 18, Chloe' Belton 4, Imani Bighorn 33, Riley MacDonald 4, Holly Colgan 12. Totals: 27-50 7-11 61.
3-pointers – Eagleman, Healy. Total fouls – Har 13, Pop 11. Fouled out – none.
Rocky Boy 76, Wolf Point 52 (championship)
Rocky Boy 26 12 18 26 - 76
Wolf Point 13 11 20 8 - 52
Rocky Boy – Jaynah Gopher 9, Sean Henry 17, Sasha Coffee 3, Adrienne Gopher 20, Naomi Day Child 2, Jaylynn Mitchell 20, Rochelle Pease 5. Totals: 29-76 13-18 76.
Wolf Point – Brenna Kurokawa 6, Semarah Wells 10, Aubry Zilkoski 13, Mary Bighorn 11, Abby Juve 10, Tori Nygard 2. Totals: 21-78 4-13 52.
3-pointers – J. Gopher, Coffee, A. Gopher 3; Wells 2, Zilkoski, Bighorn 3. Total fouls – RB 15, WP 18. Fouled out – Zilkoski. Technical foul – WP coach.
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