SOARING: T-Birds down Hawks

With the District 9C girls basketball tournament feeling wide open this year, many teams hope to take advantage in order to make a run to the Northern C Divisionals. One of those teams is the Hays-Lodge Pole Thunderbirds who started the tournament Thursday at Havre High Gymnasium with a 50-34 win over Chester-Joplin-Inverness.

The Hawks played the Thunderbirds close early on, but HLP was able to pull away in the second half.

"Pretty much the way I thought it was going to go," HLP head coach Corey Morgan said. "The girls pulled through and their defense wore them down."

Judemia Gray got the first score of the game to give CJI a 2-0 lead. In response for the Thunderbirds, Averie Mattson made a layup to tie it up. Moments later, Jayla Ramberg scored to retake the lead for the Hawks. Again, the Thunderbirds tied it up with a basket from Angela Blackcrow.

The next few minutes saw the teams struggle to put the ball through the hoop. A free throw from Tahtianna Gray finally gave HLP the lead with about three minutes left in the opening frame. Jaedyn Chandler then nailed a 3-pointer to extend the lead to 8-4. Looking to keep up, Mattson scored a bucket to cut the deficit to 8-6 to end the first quarter.

At the beginning of the second quarter, Ramberg knocked down some free throws to tie the game again. Mattson then made a layup to give CJI a 10-8 lead. The score remained unchanged over the next few minutes as neither team could find a bucket. Haddie Woods was able to knock down a free throw to extend the CJI lead to 11-8 with just under five minutes left in the half.

The Thunderbirds were able to grab momentum before the half. Chandler got things started with an offensive rebound that she converted into a bucket. Moments later, Nashone Shambo scored to give HLP a 12-11 lead. Alliya Pretty Paint then scored to stretch the lead to 14-11 with just under three minutes left in the half. Both teams struggled to score the rest of the way as the only point came from a free throw by Aria Miller. As they went into halftime, HLP held a slim 14-12 lead.

After a Thunderbird score to start the third, Ramberg scored back-to-back baskets to tie the game, 16-16. The Thunderbirds responded with scores from Pretty Paint and Blackcrow to take the lead. Ramberg scored again to cut the deficit to 20-18 with five minutes left in the quarter.

But the Thunderbirds finally broke through on offense as they went on a 15-0 run to take control. Pretty Paint got the run started with a three and a layup to make it 25-18. Later in the quarter, Gray made back-to-back baskets to stretch the lead to 35-18 with two minutes left in the quarter. The Thunderbirds' defense also shut down CJI players such as Tatum Hull and Mattson to create separation.

"We just wanted to pressure them," Morgan said. "Hull and Mattson are both really good guards but we knew that if we wore them down, eventually we would probably win the game."

However, the Hawks were not ready to call it quits. They got some buckets to cut their deficit to 35-22 heading to the fourth. They then started the fourth quarter on an 8-5 run to cut the deficit to 40-30. But the Thunderbirds held onto momentum as they pulled away for the win.

Pretty Paint finished the game with 14 points as she went 6-for-17 from the field. Gray also made an impact with 10 points as she shot 5-for-11 from the field. Ramberg led CJI with 18 points as she went 7-for-11 from the field and 4-for-6 from the free-throw line.

The Hawks head to the consolation bracket as they will try to make a run at third place. The Hawks will have a morning game but CJI head coach Jordan Miller believes they will be ready for the early start.

"It's hard coming back the next morning but we do morning practices every week to prepare for things like this," Miller said. "We're just going to come back, play our game, get back to defense and next game forward.

As the Thunderbirds head to the semifinals, Morgan believes his young team shook off the jitters to start the postseason and will be ready for their next opponent.

"I think the younger girls shook them all off that first half and we got a little more comfortable in the second half," Morgan said. "We want to make our free throws, rebound a little bit more and get comfortable."

HLP will play Chinook in the semifinals tonight at 5:30 p.m. at HHS Gymnasium. CJI played Big Sandy in a loser-out game earlier this morning.

HLP 50, CJI 34

CJI - 6 6 10 12 - 50

HLP - 8 6 21 15 - 34

CJI - Jayla Ramberg 18, Averie Mattson 6, Tatum Hull 3, Haddie Woods 3, MaRae Smail 2, Aria Miller 2.

HLP - Alliya Pretty Paint 14, Judemia Gray 10, Nina Fox 7, Angelina Blackcrow 6, Jaedyn Chandler 6, Nashone Shambo 4, Tahtianna Gray 3.

3-pointers: CJI 1-4 (Tatum Hull 1), HLP 2-24 (Alliya Pretty Paint 1, Jaedyn Chandler 1). Fouls: CJI 15, HLP 18. Fouled Out: Hull, Mattson.