Thunderbirds just keep on rising

GREAT FALLS - It's been 33 long years since the Hays-Lodge Pole Thunderbirds made it into the Northern C Divisionals, but they made it after beating Box Elder last weekend. Now, the T-Birds aimed to make some noise in their first game of divisionals at the Four Seasons Arena in Great Falls.

But, HLP had to make it through the Denton-Geyser-Stanford Bearcats in a play-in game to continue their goals of making it to the top. The No. 3 from the 8C was not going to let the Thunderbirds pass so easily.

And the T-Birds succeeded in their mission to move forward in the bracket, beating DGS 40-25 in a great game to open the girls tournament.

Hays-Lodge Pole head coach Corey Morgan was proud of his teams' work to pick up the win, starting off the tourney right.

"We watched a little bit of tape on DGS," Morgan said. "We knew they liked to zone. Our shots weren't hitting at first, but I knew our half court shots and press would hopefully wear them out. Girls adjusted the jitters and did a real good job."

To start off the game, the Bearcats drove into a lead with Mariah Schott and Sydney Von Bergen at the helm. Nashone Shambo responded with a 3-pointer for the T-Birds, but Adie Woodhall sunk a shot to give DGS the early lead 9-5.

HLP got back into it in the second stanza, with Shambo and Ella Messerly dropping great shots, including a field goal from Judemia Gray to give the Thunderbirds the lead late in the half. But Von Bergen and Keonna Cunningham pushed back to take the lead again 18-17 at the intermission.

The third period saw Messerly and Mulleeah Stiffarm make baskets to give HLP the lead back, but the Bearcats continued to fight back, making a shot to keep it close. Shambo sunk a 3-pointer and Sierra Chandler threw up a block to help the T-Birds lead 28-20 going into the fourth quarter.

In the final eight minutes, Chandler added some more points to the board for HLP, while Von Bergen put up one herself. Stiffarm dropped a field goal to answer and Von Bergen kept trucking to move DGS forward. But, the T-Birds kept up the pace to stay ahead and grab their first divisional win in 33 years.

Shambo led HLP with 11 points and Messerly followed with eight points against the Bearcats. On top of that, Chandler is proud of how far the team has come this season, too.

"It feels pretty great," Chandler said. "We worked hard as a team, sacrificed a lot and got through a lot of stuff this year. We had togetherness, heart and hard work today."

HLP will play against Augusta today to continue to their quest for a spot in the Class C state tournament and Morgan is looking forward to the matchup.

"We watched a little bit on Augusta," Morgan said. "They're a good team, too. Everybody is here for a reason, so we can't overlook anybody. We'll take it quarter by quarter and keep doing what we're doing. Hopefully they got their jitters out of the way."

Hays Lodge-Pole 40, DGS 25

HLP 5 12 11 12 – 40

DGS 9 9 2 4 – 24

HLP – Nashone Shambo 11, Ella Messerly 8, Judemia Gray 6, Sierra Chandler 3, Thatianna Whitecow-Morgan 1, Jaedyn Chandler 4, Mulleeah Stiffarm 7. Totals: 12-50 13-20 40.

DGS – Adie Woodhall 2, Sydney Von Bergen 11, Jessica Ayers 4, Keonna Cunningham 2, Mariah Schott 5. Totals: 9-55 5-13 24.

3-pointers: Nashone Shambo 2, Ella Messerly 1, Mariah Schott 1. Fouls: HLP 13, DGS 17. Fouled out: none.