Billings Senior eliminates Glacier at AA state girls basketball tourney

BOZEMAN — The Glacier girls fought hard against Billings Senior but fell a few points short, losing 35-30 to end their season Friday afternoon in loser-out action at the Class AA state basketball tournament.

Leading most of the first quarter, the Pack gave up four points in the final 34 seconds of the period to trail 9-7. The Glacier defense clamped down and held the Broncs scoreless for the first five minutes of the second quarter, going on a 7-0 run during the stretch.

Nicole Heavirland and Cassidy Hashley fueled the Glacier push and had the Pack up 14-9 midway through the quarter. The two teamed up for all but one point for the Pack in the first half.

“They’ve been the glue for our team this year,” Glacier coach Kris Salonen said.

Yet, with all of the momentum in hand, Glacier couldn’t close the half with authority. The Wolfpack struggled to find the basket on offense, giving up a 7-1 run to the Broncs to end the second quarter, entering halftime trailing 16-15.

The deficit got worse when Senior guard Shae Hoskins opened the third quarter with a 3-pointer, extending the Broncs lead to four. They led by as much as six in the quarter until the Pack was able to shut down the final few minutes of the third to narrow the lead to 25-23.

Senior’s deep shooting prowess was able to hold the Pack at bay. The Broncs hit another 3 to start the fourth quarter and were able to maintain their lead despite long runs without a basket.

Glacier slowly chipped away at the lead and trailed just 31-29 with four minutes left to play. But the Pack had trouble closing the gap, missing the front end of a bonus free throw and three shots from inside five feet.

Senior was able to hit a pair of free throws with 35 seconds left to stretch the lead to four, which Amy Lybeck answered with one of her own to get the score to 33-30 with 15 seconds showing.

The Wolfpack got the ball back with 7.2 seconds on the clock with a chance to tie, but turned it over trying to get the ball to Heavirland in the corner.

“We had every opportunity to tie it or win the game, we just missed a ton of buckets at the end,” Salonen said.

“We’ve got to execute and try to make some things happen and we just didn’t.”

Hashley finished with a game-high 14 points and 13 rebounds. Heavirland scored 10.

“As a coach you don’t know what the kids are going to do when they get here,” Salonen said. “Are they just going to be satisfied with getting here or are they going to compete? My gosh, they did compete. I’m just proud of them. I’m just sad we couldn’t win one game.”

The Pack graduates four girls this year, including starters Lybeck and Dayna Niebaum. They’ll also lose guards Emily Gilbertson and Grier Smithwick-Hann, but should return the bulk of their scoring.

“That’s something we need to do in the off season, we’ve got to get better offensively, we’ve got to get stronger,” Salonen said.

“Defensively that’s who we are. We still think we have the best defensive team in the state.”

Loser-Out Games

Billings Senior 35, Glacier 30

Glacier 7 8 8 7 — 30

Senior 9 7 9 10 — 35

Glacier (12-10) — Rachel Cherry 1-6 0-0 2, Hannah Atlee 0-1 0-0 0, Emily Gilbertson 0-1 0-0 0, Kailea Vaudt 0-0 0-0 0, Kirstyn Haugenoe 1-2 0-0 2, Cassidy Hashley 4-15 5-8 14, Nicole Heavirland 3-11 4-6 10, Amy Lybeck 0-3 2-5 2, Katie Wiley 0-0 0-0 0, Dayna Niebaum 0-0 0-2 0, Grier Smithwich-Hann 0-0 0-0 0, Tiffany Marks 0-0 0-0 0. Totals – 9-39 11-21 30.

Senior (13-10) — Sara Heard 0-0 0-0 0, Jordan Dreesen 0-0 0-0 0, Shae Hoskins 2-8 2-3 8, Marissa Van Atta 0-5 1-2 1, Alli Kieckbusch 0-0 0-0 0, Chez Keehn 2-8 1-4 6, Elayna Rica 2-4 1-5 5, Katie Gorman 0-0 0-0 0, Alex Harvey 1-5 0-0 2, Jace Henderson 2-13 2-2 7, Rachel Koehler 2-5 2-2 6, Karina Belli 0-0 0-0 0. Totals – 11-48 9-18 35.

3-pointers — Glacier 1-9 (Vaugt 0-1, Heavirland 0-3, Hashley 1-3, Katie Wiley 0-2) Senior 4-21 (Hoskins 2-8, Kieckbush 0-1, Keehn 1-3, Harvey 0-1, Henderson 1-6, Koehler 0-2). Rebounds – Glacier 37 (Hashley 13, Cherry 5) Senior 41 (Koehler 12, Keehn 8, Henderson 7). Assists – Glacier 3 (three with 1) Senior 3 (three with 1). Blocks – Glacier 2 (Cherry, Hashley) Senior 2 (Rice, Henderson). Steals – Glacier 1 (Heavirland) Senior 7 (Henderson 3). Turnovers – Glacier 13, Senior 7.

Great Falls CMR 60, Butte 23

Butte 7 6 1 9 — 23

CMR 19 13 16 12 — 60

Butte (8-15) – Natalee Faupel 3-8 1-2 8, Jessie Buckley 0-0 0-0 0, Sammy McGree

3-8 2-4 9, Baylee Thatcher 0-2 0-0 0, Ashten McCloskey 0-0 0-2 0, Erika McLeod 0-4 2-2 2, Hattie Thatcher 1-6 1-3 3, McKaul Ori 0-0 1-2 1, Carlie Haeffner 0-5 0-0 0, Maria Michelotti 0-0 0-0 0, Andi Hogan 0-1 0-0 0, Brianna O’Mara 0-2 0-0 0. Totals: 7-36 FG 7-15 FT 23.

C.M. RUSSELL (18-5) — Maggie Reilly 2-2 0-0 4, Hannah Vining 3-5 0-0 8, Kaydee Parsons 1-2 0-0 3, Lexi Pyette 1-3 0-0 3, Ashlee Atchison 1-2 0-1 2, Kylie Otis 0-1 0-0 0, Katelyn Robbins 0-1 0-1 0, Brandy Kumm 4-5 0-0 10, Maddy Gregoire 0-0 0-0 0, Diondra Denton 7-10 2-3 18, Sara Wier 6-12 0-0 12, Maddy Watkins 0-0 0-0 0. Totals – 25-43 FG 2-5 FT 60.

3-pointers – CMR 8-14 (Kumm 2-3, Denton 2-4, Vining 2-4, Parsons 1-1, Pyette 1-2); Butte 2-13 (Faupel 1-2, McGree 1-3, Hogan 0-1, B. Thatcher 0-1, McLeod 0-2, H, Thatcher 0-4). Rebounds – CMR 33 (Team 11, Denton 5, Vining 4, Wier 4); Butte 22 (Team 7, Haeffner 6, B. Thatcher 4). Assists – CMR 13 (Kumm 6); Butte 0. Steals – CMR 8 (Kumm 3, Vining 2); Butte 3 (Faupel, Haeffner, H. Thatcher). Blocks – CMR 5 (Wier 3, Denton, Robbins); Butte 0. Turnovers – CMR 12; Butte 16.

Semifinals

Missoula Sentinel 62,

Missoula Big Sky 36

Big Sky 8 9 13 6 — 36

Sentinel 16 21 17 8 — 62

Big Sky (12-11) – Dani Baker 2-5 1-2 5, Kristen Daugherty 2-6 0-0 4, Kendra Joyce 0-1 0-0 0, Kelsey Donnelly 1-3 0-0 2, Athena Farr 0-2 0-0 0, Elle Tinkle 7-11 2-2 16, Hannah Moreau 1-3 2-2 5, Mackensie Foreman 0-2 0-0 0, Anna Johnson 0-2 0-0 0, Jesse Schafer 1-3 0-0 2, Sidney Davis 0-1 0-0 0, Maddy Shaide 1-5 0-1 2. Totals – 15-44 5-8 36.

Sentinel (18-4) – Elly Jones 1-4 2-2 4, Kennedy Fulbright 2-7 0-0 6, Kayla Martin 0-1 0-1 0, Liz Harper 1-2 5-5 7, Nikki Schurg 0-1 2-2 2, Olivia Roberts 4-8 2-3 10, DJ Reinhardt 6-13 6-6 19, Lexi Steele 0-3 0-0 0, Sam Harper 0-1 0-0 0, Darbi Anderson 1-3 0-0 2, Amanda Bearmedicine 4-7 4-4 12. Totals – 19-50 21-23 62.

3-pointers – Big Sky 1-8 (Baker 0-1, Daugherty 0-1, Farr 0-2, Moreau 1-1, Freeman 0-1, Shaide 0-2) Sentinel 3-7 (Fulbright 2-3, Roberts 0-1, Reinhardt 1-1, Steele 0-1, Anderson 0-1.) Rebounds – Big Sky 26 (Donnelly 3) Sentinel 38 (Reinhardt 6). Assists – Big Sky 2, Sentinel 3 (Reinhardt 2). Blocks – Big Sky 2 (Donnelly 2), Sentinel 1 (Anderson 1). Steals – Big Sky 9 (Tinkle 7) Sentinel 9 (Fulbright 3, Reinhardt 3). Turnovers – Big Sky 13, Sentinel 13.

Bozeman 55, Helena 44

Helena 10 11 13 10 — 44

Bozeman 14 9 19 13 — 55

Helena (16-7) — Shelby Pugh 0-0 0-0 0, Tatum Teegarden 1-5 0-0 2, Regan Fruh 0-0 0-0 0, Alex Askin 0-0 0-0 0, Kaitlyn Oliver 3-4 1-2 7, Mckaylee Verworn 1-5 2-2 5, Dani Norling 0-0 0-0 0, Callie Kanthack 1-2 3-6 5, Kyndal Williams 6-17 2-6 17, Mallory Grimsrud 2-3 1-2 5, Maddison Therriault 0-0 0-0 0, Mackenzie Donnelly 1-2 1-2 3. Totals 15-38 10-20 44.

Bozeman (22-0) — Mikaela McLeod 2-6 2-2 7, Trae Roderick 0-1 0-1 0, Alexa Dawkins 6-14 3-4 16, Averie Collins 0-0 0-0 0, Amy Davis 2-6 2-2 6, Brooke Erickson 0-0 0-0 0, Abbie Aamot 0-0 0-0 0, Abby Rustan 1-2 0-0 3, Shanae Gilham 6-12 2-4 17, Ellie Hawthorne 0-0 0-0 0, Sarah Carey 0-0 0-0 0, Rosie Nickelson 2-6 0-0 6. Totals – 19-47 9-13 55.

3-pointers – Helena 4-9 (Teegarden 0-2, Verworn 1-1, Williams 3-6) Bozeman 8-15 (McLeod 1-2, Dawkins 1-2, Rustan 1-1, Gilham 3-6, Nickelson 2-4). Rebounds – Helena 24 (Kanthack 5) Bozeman 36 (Gilham 9, Dawkins 7). Assists – Helena 3 (three with 1) Bozeman 7 (Dawkins 3). Blocks – Helena 1 (Grimsrud) Bozeman 3 (Dawkins 2). Steals – Helena 3 (three with 1) Bozeman 6 (Nickelson 2). Turnovers – Helena 13, Bozeman 9.