Saco/Whitewater blitzes competition on the way to 3C championship

The Saco-Whitewater Panthers completed their undefeated conference run by sweeping through the District 3C Tournament with ease last weekend in Malta.

The Panthers trounced Opheim in the championship game, 73-33. The Panthers controlled the game from the start leading 16-7 after the first quarter and 37-19 at halftime. The undersized Vikings only scored five points in the final quarter.

The championship game was just a small sampling of the Panthers' dominance of the conference.

Saco-Whitewater held Hinsdale to 14 points for the entire game, winning 46-14 in the semifinals and beat Lustre Christian even worse, holding the Lady Lions to only 10 points in the 53-10 opening round win.

Leah Olson led the Panthers in scoring against Lustre with 12 points and Brianne DePuydt led the team with 10 points against Hinsdale.

On the way to second place, Opheim didn't win quite as comfortably. Led by Gwynn Simeniuk's 17 points, the Vikings beat Frazer 50-35 in the opening round before squeaking out a 49-42 win over Scobey in the semifinals. Colleen Kinsey led the Vikings with 22 points against the Spartans.

Scobey and Hinsdale grabbed the last two spots in the Eastern C Divisional.
The divisional playoffs, which will be held on March 4-6 in Wolf Point, will feature District 3C against the top four teams from District 2C.

For winning the conference, Saco-Whitewater will play Savage in the first round. Opheim will play against Circle, Scobey will face Culbertson and Hinsdale will play top-seeded Fairview. The top two teams from the divisional tournament advance to the State Tournament on March 11-13 in Great Falls.