We've Got The County Covered
We've Got The County Covered
Chinook sophomore Alexus Seymour has found her mark from distance as the season winds down and is the 'Beeters second leading scorer on the season.
Turner freshman Bridget Reed has become a solid player for the Tornadoes this season. Reed can play strong defense and can score on the perimeter or in the paint for the Tornadoes.
The District 9C has concluded its regular season schedules and teams and fans alike are getting set for another thrilling District 9C Girls Tournament this week. The tournament gets underway today in Havre at the Blue Pony Gymnasium and will conclude Friday night.
The Sugarbeeters will be favored heading into the tournament but two close games to end the regular season suggest anything can happen. Chinook enters the tournament as the No. 1 seed and concluded the regular season with a perfect 14-0 conference mark and an overall record of 18-0.
The Hays/Lodge Pole Thunderbirds will be the No. 7 seed having finished 2-14 in conference play an 6-12 overall. The Turner Tornadoes will be the No. 8 seed after finishing the regular season 2-12 in conference play and 4-14 overall. The Tornadoes and Thunderbirds identical conference records led to tie break to determine the final seeding. Hays/Lodge Pole was given the higher seed based on their head to head Taylor Points.
The rest of the tournament field includes the No. 2 North Star Knights who finished with a conference record of 10-4 and an overall mark of 14-4. The No. 3 Seed will be the Fort Benton Longhorns (9-5, 11-7). The No. 4 seed is the Big Sandy Pioneers (9-5, 11-7). Box Elder is the No. 5 Seed (6-8, 9-9) and the No. 6 seed is the Chester/Joplin-Inverness Hawks (5-9, 8-10).
The Sugarbeeters will begin the tournament in a contest with the Tornadoes set to tip off at 1:00 pm. The 'Beeters defeated the Tornadoes in their first meeting of the season on January 7, 56-32. In the second meeting between the teams Chinook raced past the Tornadoes 63-26 on February 4.
Game number two of the tournament will feature a contest between the Big Sandy Pioneers and the Box Elder Bears. The winners of the first two games will advance to the first semifinal Thursday night at 7:00 p.m. Losers will meet Thursday morning bright and early with an 8:00 am start.
The bottom half of the bracket pits the Hays Lodge Pole Thunderbirds against the North Star Knights in game number four at 7:30 pm Wednesday night. The Knights won both meetings between the teams beginning with a 51-17 win in Gildford back in December. In Hays the Knights earned a 54-27 win on January 20.
Game number three pits the Fort Benton Longhorns against the Chester/Joplin-Inverness Hawks with tip off scheduled for 6:00 pm. Wednesday evening. The winners of games three and four will meet Thursday night in the second semifinal at 8:30 pm. Loser will meet Thursday morning at 9:30 in loser out action.
The District 9C Championship will take place Friday night with tip off set for 8:30 pm. The consolation final will precede the championship with tip off set for 7:00 pm Friday evening. The top three teams from the District 9C Tournament will advance to the Northern C Divisional in Great Falls.
The Northern C Divisional will be played at the Four Seasons Arena and always features plenty of great action in both the boys and girls tournaments. One would say the Sugarbeeters, Knights and Longhorns may represent the 9C, but tournaments often produce crazy results and every team has a chance to catch fire and shock the pundits. Hays/Lodge Pole has had stretches where they have played exceptionally well, their win over Box Elder on Friday night proves that. Turner has also played teams well for stretches at a time and while they haven't been able to do it for a full 32 minutes maybe this week is the time it all comes together.
Good luck Sugarbeeters, Tornadoes and Thunderbirds, let's have all three advance!
