State tourney roundup: Helena Capital girls beat Billings West in semifinal
GREAT FALLS — Paige Bartsch scored 14 points and Dani Bartsch added 13 and Helena Capital held down Billings West 44-26 in the State AA girls’ basketball semifinals Friday.
Sharpshooter Mara McGinley hit three 3-pointers and added 11 points for the Bruins, who led 19-11 at half and held the Hawks to a season-low. Paige Bartsch snared 10 rebounds as well for the Bruins, who were co-champions a year ago along with the Golden Girls.
Capital won its lone outright championship in 2015. The Bruins will play Missoula Hellgate, a 52-35 winner over Bozeman in Friday’s other semifinal.
Hellgate won state titles in 1989 and 1994, and last appeared in the championship in 2003, losing to Billings West.
The Knights took command in the third quarter, getting threes from Addy Heaphy and Chloe Larson to pad a 27-17 halftime lead out to 44-24. The gap grew to 50-24 on Lauren Dick’s basket with 5:15 left.
Alex Covill led Hellgate with 14 points. Heaphy added 10. Bailey Sayler had eight points and five boards. Britlyn Mailey scored nine points off the bench for the Hawks.
In loser-out action Alison Harris scored 15 points, Ashlyn Jones chipped in 14 and Great Falls ousted Missoula Sentinel 44-36. Challis Westwater had 14 points and 12 rebounds for the Spartans.
State B girls
At Billings, Emily Cooley scored 19 points and Bailey Finn added 17 and unbeaten Big Timber overcame a slow start to beat Malta in the semifinals Friday.
Hailee Brandon added 13 for the Herders, who trailed 11-4 after one quarter but led 26-20 by halftime. Big Timber will play Columbus for the title, in its first championship since the Herders won back-to-back B girls’ titles in 1980-81.
The Cougars beat Roundup 41-34 in the late semifinal to make its second-ever championship appearance. They were runners-up in 2001.
Allison Kunze scored 15 points to lead Malta, which won’t add to its pile of 10 championships. The M’ettes last made the title game in 2017, and last won it in 2016.
Payton West and Sawyer Wiggs scored 14 points each for Columbus. Wiggs was 4-for-5 on threes; West hit six straight free throws as the Cougars padded out a 35-33 in the final 33 seconds.
Blythe Sealey was the only Panther in double figures, with 10 points.
State B Boys
In loser-out play in Billings, Dante Micheli scored 22 points and Thompson Falls beat Florence 65-52 in overtime — the Bluehawks’ second straight OT game at State.
Micheli hit five 3-pointers and teammate Kade Pardee had 21 points and 12 rebounds for Thompson Falls.
The Bluehawks will face Huntley Project, which beat Shelby 57-52 behind 21 points and 11 rebounds from Noah Bouchard. Tim Rose added 11 for the Red Devils. Logan Leek scored 28 to lead Shelby.
State AA Boys
Missoula Sentinel came back from its semifinal loss with an 84-59 loser-out win over Bozeman (12-6), behind 34 points from Alex Germer and 20 more from Tony Frohlich-FAir.
Germer hit two 3-pointers and grabbed nine rebounds for the Spartans, who will face Helena Capital in Saturday’s consolation game.
Capital trounced Butte 68-42, putting four players in double figures: Brayden Koch (16), Hadyen Opitz (14), Tyler Tenney (14) and Malachi Syvrud (12). The Bruins lost both their regular-season matchups with Sentinel, but have won six of their last seven.