Browning girls advance to Western A semifinals
RONAN — Mecca Bullchild scored 30 points for Browning, and the Lady Indians pulled away in the fourth quarter Thursday to beat Stevensville 65-54 at the Western A Divisional girls basketball tournament.
Bullchild hit 4 3-pointers and Amari Calfrobe hit a pair for Browning (18-1), which will face Frenchtown in a semifinal game at 3:30 p.m. Friday. Frenchtown beat Columbia Falls 51-35 to advance.
Browning was the lone Northwest A program to win Thursday. In the late session Polson fell to Hamilton 48-43 and Dillon beat Ronan 62-26. Dillon and Hamilton advanced to Friday’s 5 p.m. semifinal.
Browning 65, Stevi 54
Bullchild scored 22 points after halftime, and 16 points in Browning’s 25-point fourth period.
Kalcie Connelly added 11 points and Calfrobe had seven for Browning, which led the Yellowjackets 40-37 after three quarters.
Clair Hutchison had 20 points for Stevi (9-10), which will take on Columbia Falls in a loser-out game Friday at 9 a.m.
Browning 17 7 16 25 - 65
Stevensville 11 15 11 17 - 54
BROWNING — Mecca Bullchild 30, Kalcie Connelly 11, Amari Calfrobe 10, Lish Spoonhunter 7, Jerel Whitegrass 3, Natalie St. Goddard 4.
STEVENSVILLE — Claire Hutchison 20, Cambree Praast 11, Shilo Lami 10, Alexa Perez 7, Dawsyn Brewer 4, Jaden Fisher 2.
Frenchtown 51, Columbia Falls 35
Sadie Smith poured in 23 points for the Broncs (14-4A), who used a big second quarter to build a 30-16 halftime lead.
Hope McAtee led the Wildkats (11-7) with 15 points, and Emalee Alton checked in with 12.
Columbia Falls 13 3 8 11 - 35
Frenchtown 11 19 8 13 - 51
COLUMBIA FALLS — Hope McAtee 15, Emalee Alton 12, Taryn Borgen 3, Ellie Stutsman 3, Lexi Oberholtzer 2.
FRENCHTOWN — Sadie Smith 23, Haylee Kaufman 12, Madison Kaufman 10, Mason quinn 4, Kat Deschamps 2.
Hamilton 48, Polson 43
Taryn Searle’s 17 points led Hamilton (13-5), which built a 30-19 halftime lead and then had to fend off Polson’s fourth-quarter comeback.
Both Searle and Taylor McCarthy hit three 3-pointers for the Broncs.
Polson (11-8) was led by Mila Hawk’s 15 points. The Pirates fell into a 10:30 a.m. loser-out game against either Ronan or Dillon.
Polson 11 8 12 12 - 43
Hamilton 14 16 13 5 - 48
POLSON — Mila Hawk 15, Ilysia Adams 8, Grace Simonich 6, Julia Barnard 6, Samantha Resnvold 2, Ashtyn Wagner 1, Nikki Kendall 5.
HAMILTON — Taryn Searle 17, Taylor McCarthy 9, Ashlynn MNckern 7, Emilee Searle 6, Layne Kearns 6, Alexes Brenneman 3.
Dillon 62, Ronan 26
Sydney Peterson led four Dillon players in double figures for the 18-1 Beavers, who took a 35-15 halftime lead and didn’t look back.
Arianna Zepeda’s nine points led Ronan (8-12), which will face Ronan in a loser-out game this morning at 10:30.
Ronan 10 5 8 3 - 26
Dillon 17 18 10 17 - 62
RONAN — Leina Ulutoa 7, Arianna Zepeda 9, Isabella Devereaux-Trahan 3, Lauryn Buhr 3, Margaret Cordova 1, Olivia Heiner 1, Ally Luedtke 2.
DILLON — Sydney Petersen 13, Kenleigh Graham 11, Kylie Konen 10, Ariel Thomas 10, Halle Fitzgerald 9, Leila Stennerson 4, Hailey Powell 3, Sage Tash 2.