A Tornado is coming to Great Falls

When it comes to the District 9C girls basketball tournament, the Turner Tornadoes have a flair for the dramatic and against North Star last Friday in the consolation game, they proved it once again.

Last season, the Tornadoes ended a lengthy drought of not getting to divisionals by completing a double-digit comeback over Chester-Joplin-Inverness and in another do-or-die game, the Tornadoes rallied from nine points down, thanks in large part of a pair of 3-pointers by Rylee Conlan, to win 45-34. The victory clinched a spot in the Northern C for Turner for the second year in a row.

"I thought that my team really needs to get fired up and hitting these shots might do it," Conlan said. "And then we were able to turn it on from there. We were down by 12 in Turner to them and we came back, so we really tried not to get our heads down."

In the first half, it was apparent that Turner was going to be in for a fight. The Tornadoes still grabbed a 10-6 lead after the first quarter, but North Star opened the second on a 13-4 run. North Star went up five before a 3-point play by Shyan Krass sent the Tornadoes into the half down just two, 19-17.

In the third quarter, a bucket by Jade Wendland and then a triple by Shayla Bourlaug put the Knights up 27-19 with less than four minutes to go in the third. That was the biggest lead of the game for the Knights, who wouldn't hold onto it for long.

Sarah Billmayer helped the Tornadoes get back on track, scoring three points on a hoop and a free throw to get Turner back within five. Conlan then hit the first of two 3-pointers, which was followed by a Krass bucket that tied the game at 27 all. Just before the third quarter ended, Conlan was good again from three, giving Turner a 30-27 lead with eight minutes remaining.

Billmayer and Krass opened the fourth with back-to-back buckets, pushing the lead to 34-27, capping a 16-0 run at a time when it was needed the most. A 3-point play by Melanie Watkins pushed the lead to double figures and that was it for the Knights, who ran out of gas in the final minutes.

"We told our girls, it's all tough games from here on out," Turner head coach Julie Welsh said. "We knew that they could be coming at us and they were working harder than us, to begin with and we just knew that we had to start working harder and we did. We had to make some adjustments. Now we are going to go watch some film and try to get ready for the Northern C."

Billmayer, Krass and Conlan all finished with a game-high 12 points for the Tornadoes. Watkins also pitched in with seven points and 11 boards. Krass also added 11 rebounds to give her a double-double. Kendiee Wolery had a team-high 11 points in the loss for North Star. Wendland added 10, Paij Peterson finished with seven and Bourlaug wound up with six.

"It feels great," Conlan said about going back to the Northern C. "We are all very excited."

The Tornadoes rebounded quickly from their semifinal loss to Fort Benton. Turner came back Friday morning and crushed Hays-Lodge Pole 76-50 in a loser-out game. The T-Birds, who finished the season at 6-15, started strong but Turner scored 44 points in the middle of the game to break it open, and give the Tornadoes their shot to get back to Great Falls.

In the win, Shyan Krass was huge with 24 points, but Sarah Billmayer added 17 and Melanie Watkins scored 14. Rayleigh Kirkaldie scored 11 for HLP.

North Star, which came so close to getting third, reached the consolation game with a 49-31 win over Chinook Friday morning. The Suagrbeeters started strong with an early 8-6 lead, and still led 22-14 at the half. But North Star went on a 13-5 run in the third quarter, and was able to pull away from the Beeters in the end. In Chinook's final game of the season, Megan Molyneaux led the way with 11 points, while Paij Peterson paced the Knights with 12 points.

Turner will play Simms, the first-place team from the 10C in the first round of the Northern C Wednesday. Tip-off time for that one is set for 9:30 a.m. inside the Four Seasons Arena.

Turner 45, North Star 34, 3rd

North Star 6 13 8 7 - 34

Turner 10 7 13 15 - 45

Turner - Raegan Conlan 2, Sarah Billmayer 12, Rylee Conlan 12, Melanie Watkins 7, Shyan Krass. Totals: 15-41 12-24. 45.

North Star - Jade Wendland 10, Kenidee Wolery 11, Paij Peterson 7, Shayla Bourlaug 6. Totals: 12-44 9-13 34.

3-pointers: Rylee Conland 2, Sarah Billmayer 1, Shayla Bourlaug 1. Fouls: North Star 20, Turner 10. Fouled out -- none.

North Star 49, Chinook 31 (lo)

North Star 6 9 5 11 – 31

Chinook 8 14 13 14 – 49

North Star – Laynie Sattoriva 2, Jade Wendland 7, Kenidee Wolery 9, Paij Peterson 12, Olivia King 6, Shayla Borlaug 7, Kaytlyn Domire 4, Rainee Watson 2.

Chinook – Megan Molyneaux 11, Ginger Hauer 1, Kourtney Hansen 4, Delaney Kellam 1, Lily Surber 5, Rachel Gunderson 3, Allison Powell 6.

Turner 76, Hays-Lodge Pole 50 (lo)

Hays-Lodge Pole 10 12 21 7 – 50

Turner 15 21 23 17 – 76

HLP – Tahtianna Morgan 4, Kassi Prez 5, Sierra Chandler 5, Latasha Kirkaldie 7, Rayleigh Kirkaldie 11, Jaedyn Chandler 6, Mulleeah Stiffarm 10.

Turner – Raegan Conlan 4, Sarah Billmayer 16, Rylee Conlan 7, Melanie Watkins 14, Brandy Calvert 7, Brooke Reed 4, Shyan Krass 24.