Staying Alive: Beeters, Hawks and T-Birds move on

CHINOOK - On the second day of the District 9C Girls Basketball Tournament, Chinook and Chester-Joplin-Inverness played in a loser-out game to see who would stay alive in the tournament to have a chance at the consolation trophy.

After losing to North Star Tuesday night, Chinook kept its season alive with a 64-24 victory Wednesday night at the Chinook High School Gymnasium.

"I thought our girls responded well. We cleaned up a lot of things from last night to tonight. We still got some things to work on," said Chinook head coach Mike Jones. "It's one of those tournaments where a lot of girls can do things at that tournament that will surprise you."

The Sugarbeeters got it going early as they took a 17-2 lead late in the first quarter. Jayden Miller scored nine points for Chinook during this run as she went on to lead the team with 19 points for the game. By halftime, they built themselves a 39-13 lead that they would not relinquish. The best offense the Hawks could muster came from Molly Nelson, who led the team with 11 points.

Chinook came into the game as the tournament's No. 5 seed thanks to a conference record of 4-9. CJI was the tournament's No. 6 seed because of their 1-9 conference record. With losses to Turner and Chinook on back-to-back nights, the Hawks were eliminated from the 9C Tournament.

With the win, the Sugarbeeters stay alive in the District 9C Tournament and will next play on Friday against the loser of the Fort Benton-Box Elder game, which will be played today.

"Either one of them can score and score quickly so our defense has got to be pretty good," Jones said. "We can't allow the ball to get inside very fast, and we got to make sure we're communicating and sliding our feet and getting the help defense."

Chinook's next game in the 9C Tournament will take place at the Havre High School Gymnasium at 10:30 a.m. Friday.

Around the 9C

In the tournament's other loser-out game Wednesday night, Hays-Lodge Pole dominated Big Sandy, 57-26. The Thunderbirds opened the game on a 25-5 run to lead 42-10 at halftime. Big Sandy improved offensively in the second half, but it wasn't enough as the T-Birds advanced to a consolation semifinal against either North Star or Turner Friday afternoon.

Meanwhile, there were was just one boys loser-out game Wednesday night, as North Star got a forfeit win over HLP in the other. That left CJI and Turner to duke it out to stay alive in the tourney.

Wednesday night in Chester, the Hawks came out on fire in a 54-45 win over the Tornadoes. CJI outscored Turner 17-4 in the first quarter, but the Tornadoes made a game of it by going on an 18-4 run in the second period. Still, the Hawks were able to hold on for the loser-out win, and eliminate the Tornadoes for the postseason.

Brothers Blake and Kyle Harmon combined for 37 points for CJI, which will now play either Fort Benton or Big Sandy in a loser-out game Friday in Havre. Shane Kimmel led three Tornadoes in double figures with 16 points. Ryan Doyle added 12 and Austin Welch scored 11.

The 2021 9C tournament now moves to the Havre High gymnasium with both the boys and girls semifinals today, followed by all consolation semifinals Friday. The girls consolation game is set for 10:30 a.m. Saturday and the championship game will be at 3:30 p.m. The boys tourney concludes with the consolation game Saturday at 1 p.m. and the championship game at 6 p.m.