All four local basketball teams advance at state
<p>Glacier's Cassi Hashley (21) goes up for a shot in the fourth quarter of the Wolfpack's win over Great Falls Thursday in the first round of the Montana Class AA girls state basketball tournament at the Rimrock Auto Arena at MetraPark in Billings. (AP Photo/Billings Gazette, Casey Page)</p>
Four games, four wins.
Flathead Valley basketball teams roared through the opening round of state tournament play Thursday to advance to semifinal games.
Columbia Falls girls, Bigfork boys and Glacier girls and boys teams rolled to first-round wins.
In Class AA play in Billings, the Glacier Wolfpack girls started the day with a 47-46 triumph over Great Falls. They advance to a semifinal game Friday at 3:30 p.m. against Sentinel.
Later Thursday, the Wolfpack boys trounced C.M. Russell 62-47 to advance to a semifinal game at 6:30 p.m. Friday.
In Great Falls, the top-ranked Columbia Falls Wildkats easily advanced with a 70-29 triumph over Belgrade. The Kats play in the Class A semifinals at 6:30 p.m. Friday.
In Bozeman at the Class B tournament, the Bigfork Vikings remained undefeated with a 66-41 victory over Joliet. Bigfork’s next game is in the semifinals at 6:30 p.m. Friday.
State tournament games can be viewed online for a fee at http://www.nfhsnetwork.com/channels/montana.