State A girls: Browning bounced by Havre
BOZEMAN — It was a good day for the Eastern A, with Havre, Billings Central, Hardin and Laurel all advancing to semifinals in the State A Girls basketball tournament at Brick Breeden Fieldhouse on Thursday.
Laurel outlasted top-seeded Frenchtown 47-44, Hardin bounced Dillon 70-57, Billings Central topped Hamilton 71-49, and Havre had the largest winning margin of the day with their 73-53 win against Browning.
Havre 73, Browning 53
Amaya Jarvis and Yelena Miller scored in double digits to lift the Havre Blue Ponies to a 73-53 win over the Browning Lady Indians in the first round of the State A Girls basketball tournament on Thursday.
Miller paced Havre with 27 points and went 11 for 16 from the field and sank five free throws.
Jarvis went 5 for 5 at the line and hit two treys for 25 points.
The Lady Indians led 17-16 after one quarter and the game was tied 27-all at the half, but the Blue Ponies scored 46 points in the second half to build an insurmountable lead.
Mecca Bullchild hit seven free throws to lead Browning with 16 points and Lish Spoonhunter and Sugar Spoonhunter scored nine each.
Havre moves on to a 5 p.m. semifinal against Billings Central today.
Browning faces Hamilton at 10:30 a.m. in a loser-out game.
Havre 16 11 23 23 — 73
Browning 17 10 10 16 — 53
HAVRE — Amaya Jarvis 25, Yelena Miller 27, Avery Carlson 6, Ariana Gary 7, Sierra Parker 5, Danni Wirtzberger 3.
BROWNING — Sugar Spoonhunter 9, Mecca Bullchild 16, Amari Calf Robe-Thomas 4, Jerel Whitegrass 8, Lish Spoonhunter 9, Teslin Trombley 3, Brooke Blue 4.
Hardin 70, Dillon 57
Hardin took an early lead and didn’t give it up in a 70-57 first round State A win over Dillon Thursday.
Aiyannah Big Man scored 11 points for Hardin and Carlei Plainfeather added 10.
Dillon’s Kenleigh Graham and Halle Fitzgerald scored 18 each.
Hardin faces Laurel in a 3:30 p.m semifinal today. Dillon plays Frenchtown in a 9 a.m. loser-out contest.
Laurel 47, Frenchtown 44
Emma Timm threw up a shot with 29 seconds left and sank two free throws to ice the game for Laurel in a 47-44 upset of Frenchtown Thursday.
Timm ended up with 11 points, and Aby Dantic and Kaitlyn Dantic scored 13 each for Laurel.
The Locomotives led most of the game, but Frenchtown took a 43-36 lead with 3:26 remaining. Laurel closed the game with a 9-1 run.
Madison Kaufman scored 14 points for Frenchtown and Sadie Smith added 13.
Billings Central 71, Hamilton 49
The Billings Central Rams turned up the heat in the second quarter to clinch a 71-49 win over Hamilton Thursday.
The Rams went on an 11-0 run in the second to lead Hamilton by one point and never looked back.
Coral Old Bull scored 18 points and grabbed five rebounds for Central. Annika Stergar added 12.
Hamilton’s Layne Kearns scored 17 points.