GOOD KNIGHT

The North Star girls basketball team was on the path for a ticket to the Northern C Divisional next week and that quest took its first step Thursday evening in the Havre High Gymnasium in the 2020 District 9C girls tournament.

The No. 2 Knights took down the No. 7 Chinook Sugarbeeters Thursday night 61-26 to advance to the semifinals, where they will face off against the No. 3 Turner Tornadoes today at 5:30 p.m.

North Star girls head coach Jennifer Wendland was happy to see her team open the tournament with a win.

"I thought we played great the first half," Wendland said. "The second half, we were a little flat. Although we were ahead, we needed to play with the same energy and up to our game. We can't play down."

On the other side, Chinook's Mike Jones credited his young team for playing hard throughout the game.

"We're young, really, really young," Jones said. "We just showed our youth and we're going to come back tomorrow to focus on Chester-Joplin-Inverness. We're ready to go."

The first period opened with North Star going on an 8-0 run led by Kenidee Wolery and Kaytlyn Domire for an early lead, followed by some more baskets from Jade Wendland, Shayla Borlaug and Laynie Sattoriva to another 8-0 run. To end of the first quarter, Domire dropped some more points to help give the Knights a 28-5 lead.

The second stanza saw Chinook fight back, but the North Star defense continued to contain the Beeters, at the same time adding more baskets to the already huge lead the Knights had. Jade Cecrle kept working to put up more points for Chinook, but North Star kept a staggering lead of 41-14 going into the break.

The third quarter was more dormant for both teams, with each putting up some points to either stay ahead or cut the lead. Jayden Miller added baskets for Chinook, while the Knights pushed to continue to stay ahead.

The final eight minutes kicked off with North Star going on a 9-0 run to maintain the big lead, while Lily Surber added some for the Beeters. In the end, the Knights stayed the course and grabbed the win to move on to the semifinals.

North Star was led by Domire with 18 points, followed by Sattoriva with 13. Miller led the Beeters with seven points and Allison Powell put up five. Sattoriva had 11 rebounds for the Knights, with Domire following right behind with 10.

Domire was proud of her performance along with her team Thursday, especially since she is a freshman making big plays for the Knights.

"I feel pretty good," Domire said. "It's just a good game to go with and start playing hard, so I think we're looking good for the rest of this tournament."

Wendland now has the team focused on the next game against Turner in the semifinals.

"That's going to be a tough game," Wendland said. "Up in Turner, we only won by two and played them at home, didn't win by much, so it's gonna come down to a battle in the fourth quarter. They're a great team and they never give up."

North Star will play the Turner Tornadoes today at 5:30 p.m. in the semifinals, while the Beeters faced off against the Chester-Joplin-Inverness Hawks this morning to try and stay alive. The District 9C girls tournament runs through Saturday's consolation game at 4 p.m. and the championship game, which is slated for 5:30 p.m. Saturday night in the HHS gymnasium.

North Star 61, Chinook 26

North Star 28 13 7 13 – 61

Chinook 5 9 8 4 – 26

North Star – Laynie Sattoriva 13, Jade Wendland 4, Kenidee Wolery 10, Mackenzee Sargent 2, Shayla Borlaug 10, Kaytlyn Domire 18, Rainee Watson 4.

Chinook – Jade Cecrle 4, Torin Cecrle 4, Jayden Miller 7, Lily Surber 4, Morgan Friede 2, Allison Powell 5.

3-pointer: Laynie Sattoriva 1. Fouls: North Star 17, Chinook 10. Fouled out: Rainee Watson.