Glacier girls top Capital, earn State AA berth

BUTTE — To make it to State, the Glacier girls just had to survive a spate of turnovers, withstand a bevy of Helena Capital threes and hit their free throws.

Check on all three: The Wolfpack scored the last six points to beat Capital 46-40 Saturday at the Western AA Divisional, and are headed to the State AA tournament for the third time in coach Amanda Cram’s five seasons.

The winner of the other Saturday morning loser-out — Missoula Sentinel thumped Helena High 56-34 — also earned a state berth, in a divisional that has no consolation game.

Glacier (7-14) will take the No. 4 seed out of the West into State; Sentinel is the No. 3 seed.

Glacier 46, Capital 40

The Wolfpack ran out to a 17-7 lead and were up 27-18 at halftime, only to commit 12 second-half turnovers and see Capital bomb away from the arc in the fourth quarter.

Katie Sheridan hit her fourth 3-pointer and Taylor Sayers hit her fourth and fifth in a 3-minute span as the Bruins — who trailed 34-26 after three quarters — tied the game at 40-all with 2:00 left.

Capital had a chance to go ahead but Sayers misfired from the arc, Glacier rebounded and, after a timeout, got the ball inside to Charlotte Osler for a basket with 52 seconds left.

Osler then got her hand on a Capital pass, Kenedee Moore corralled it and Noah Fincher hit two free throws with 22 seconds left for a 44-40 lead. 

Karley Allen hit two more throws with 8 seconds remaining, and then Fincher fittingly intercepted a final Bruin pass. It was her 10th steal in three tournament games.

“That’s what she does,” Cram said of the junior guard, who also had nine points and seven rebounds. “Not surprising. The look on her face was really rewarding.”

Osler led a balanced attack with 10 points, and Reese Ramey had seven points and nine boards.

“Charlotte has had an incredible tournament,” Cram said. “Really it was a week ago that she started to turn it on and develop into a key player.”

Capital was looking to return for the state tournament for the first time since its back-to-back titles in 2020-21. Glacier also hadn’t made it in two seasons. 

“Honestly, I had never beaten Coach Garcin (Katie Garcin-Forba) at Capital,” Cram said. “We had a plan, we stuck to it. We had a great idea of what Capital was going to answer back with, but the girls just executed and were very disciplined. And thank god our shots fell.”

Kiera Sullivan hit both her 3-pointers and scored eight points for the Pack. Sayers had a game-high 15 for the Bruins (10-11).

Capital    7    11    8    14    -    40

Glacier    12    15    7    12    -    46

HELENA CAPITAL — Taylor Sayers 5-19 0-0 15, Katie Sheridan 4-12 0-2 12, Gracie Mockel 0-3 2-4 2, Anna Cockhill 0-6 0-0 0, Ali Miller 0-2 0-0 0, Riley Chandler 1-4 3-4 5, Kate Drynan 0-0 0-0 0, Hailey Burger1-3 1-2 3, Brooklyn Brisko 1-1 1-2 3. Totals 12-50 7-14 40.

GLACIER — Kiera Sullivan 3-4 0-0 8, Kenedee Moore 3-7 0-0 6, Charlotte Osler 4-9 2-3 10, Noah Fincher 2-4 3-4 9, Reese Ramey 2-10 2-2 7, Jaidyn Pevey 0-0 0-0 0, Julia Hagemeier 0-1 0-0 0, Karley Allen 1-3 2-2 4, Cazz Rankosky 0-0 0-0 0, Madison Terry 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 16-39 9-11 46.

3-point goals — Capital 9-29 (Sayers 5-14, Sheridan 4-8, Miller 0-1, Cockhill 0-6), Glacier 5-16 (Sullivan 2-2, Fincher 2-3, Ramey 1-5, Hagemeier 0-1, Allen 0-2, Moore 0-3). Rebounds — Capital 28 (Mockel 6), Glacier 35 (Ramey 9, Fincher 7). Fouls — Cap[ital 14, Glacier 11. Turnovers — Capital 8, Glacier 14.

Sentinel 54, Helena 36

The Spartans’ win means the third- and fourth-place teams for the Western AA’s regular season didn’t make state; Sentinel (10-11) was fifth and Glacier seventh.

Monroe Mastro hit three more 3-pointers and scored a game-high 17 for Sentinel. Kaitlyn Hammett added 10 points and 10 rebounds. Emily McElmurry checked in with 15 points, five rebounds and three steals.

Kylee Gardipee had 11 points and 10 boards for Helena, which ended up 14-7. 

Hellgate 47, Missoula Big Sky

Missoula Hellgate got 12 points from Elly Reed, a go-ahead 3-pointer from Ryan Meservy (her only points) and knocked off the top-seeded Eagles for the Western AA championship.

Big Sky, playing without injured guard Avory DeCoite, led 21-14 early in the third quarter but withered as the second half rolled on. Meservy’s three with 5:28 left in the game put the Knights up 36-35, and signaled the fifth and final lead change.

The gap grew to 41-35, and the Knights’ Chloe Larson hit three of four throws in the final 25 seconds. When she missed the fourth, teammate Alix Mund rebounded and hit two more to make it 47-41 with 10 seconds left.

Larson had seven points and nine rebounds; Cameron Anderson had nine points and six boards for Hellgate (14-7).

Kadynce Couture scored a game-high 17 for Big Sky (17-4). Audrey Hale added 12.

Championship

Hellgate    7    7    15    18    -    47

Big Sky    5    14    15    10    -    44

MISSOULA HELLGATE — Carmen Anderson 3-6 1-2 9, Alix Mund 1-2 5-6 7, Elly Reed 5-8 0-2 12, Gianna Passuccio 1-4 5-6 8, Chloe Larsen 0-9 7-8 7, Rya Meservy 1-2 0-0 3, Lillia Lambert 0-2 0-0 0, Shannon Kane 0-3 0-0 0, Lucy Hutchins 0-0 0-0 0, Paisley Johnson 0-2 1-2 1, Sophia Miller 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 11-38 19-26 47.

MISSOULA BIG SKY — Kyler Latrielle 1-7 5-6 7, Sadie McGuinn 3-10 0-0 7, Audrey Hale 4-6 3-6 12, Mya Hubbard 0-1 1-2 1, Kadynce Couture 6-15 4-6 17, Tanya Kirlovich 0-0 0-0 0, Tina Kirlovich 0-1 0-0 0, Gianna Janacaro 0-0 0-2 0, Delaney Laird 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 14-40 13-22 44.

3-point goals — Hellgate 6-17 (Anderson 2-4, Reed 2-3, Passuccio 1-2, Meservy 1-2), Big sky 3-14 (Couture 1-1, Hale 1-2, McGuinn 1-6). Rebounds — Hellgate 27 (Larsen 9),k Big Sky 24 (McGuinn 7). Turnovers — Hellgate 12, Big Sky 13.