Box Elder star to play in Montana-Wyoming series

Box Elder's Lilly Gopher helped her Lady Bears to back-to-back Class C state championships last month. But her high school hoops career isn't quite over.

Last week, Gopher was named to the Montana roster of the prestigious Montana-Wyoming All-Star Series, which will be played in Billings and Sheridan, Wyoming in June.

Gopher, a three-time Class C All-State selection, who was also recently named to the Great Falls Tribune Super State Team, signed with NAIA national champion Montana Western last month to continue her hoops career collegiately. First though, she'll be a part of a loaded Montana girls team in the annual series.

The girls roster includes TyLee Manuel of Billings West, TyRaa Manuel of Billings West, Shayla Montague of Billings West, Kali Gulick of Kalispell Glacier; Sydney Sheridan of Helena Capital; Kyle Olsen of Three Forks; Danielle Zahn of Florence; Mackenzie Dethman of Froid-Medicine Lake; Gopher, and Alyssia Vanderberg of Arlee.

Rocky Mountain College women's basketball coach Wes Keller will once again lead the Montana girls team. It is the 23rd year of the girls series and Montana leads 31-13. The Treasure State girls have won the last five contests.

"We are excited to have some height and are pretty big this year," Midland Roundtable representative Mike Noland said of the girls team to 406 Sports. "We have some great shooters and we have some real tough kids, especially from the B-C. We have some multi-sport kids."

The Montana boys roster consists of Ryan Simpson of Bozeman, Jesse Owens of Billings West, Blake Thelen of Great Falls, Chrishon Dixon of Billings Central, Michael Haverfield of Dillon, Sam Gray of Billings Central, Jaden Graham of Lewistown, Sayer Patton of Choteau, Caleb Bellach of Manhattan Christian and Brody Grebe of Melstone. The coach is Steve Keller, the University of Providence men's basketball coach. Keller is 14-0 leading the Montana boys.

The Montana boys have won 14 straight games in the annual Midland Roundtable Montana-Wyoming All-Star basketball series.

Traditionally, the games are held in Sheridan Friday and Billings Saturday, but this year that was switched as the Wyoming coaches requested the dates rotate every two years. It will be the second time, and first since 1979, that the games in Billings will be played on a Friday.

This year's games are Friday, June 7 at Rocky Mountain College in Billings and Saturday, June 8 at Sheridan College in Sheridan, Wyoming. The girls begin at 5:30 p.m. and the boys are slated for a 7:30 p.m. tip-off both night.