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Lady Panthers Advance To State; Opener With Belt

The first game of the girls 2015 Eastern C Tournament got underway in the Wolf Point High School gymnasium last Wednesday with the Lady Panthers of Saco/Whitewater/Hinsdale meeting the Lady Warriors of Brockton.

This was pretty much one of those ho-hum games as SWH hammered the Brockton contingent 71 to 30 behind the 29 points put up by the Lady Panthers' Tatum Moore. BTW that was the girls tournament high individual score. SWH's Kourtney Simonson scored 18, Larimie Scheffelmear 7, Keira Simonson 4, Jada Sudbrack 3 and Mickayla Johnson, Casity Boucher, Bailey Funk, Kayla Howard and Kaycee Howard each scored 2.

Brockton's Alleen Russell scored 20 points for the Lady Warriors.

The Lady Spartans of Scobey put up a good show when they sent the Lady Thunder of MonDak to the recycle bin, 48 to 47. BoDayle Battleson was high team scorer for Scobey with 10 points. Mayson Hudyma scored 9, Trya Furhman 7, Alexa Welchin 4 and Kaitlin Farver 2. Erin Wahl hit the winning free throw, had 8 points and hauled down 9 rebounds.

For MonDak it was Salina Carter with 18 and Sabrina Carter with 13.

Fairview's Torrie Hurley with 17 points, Bailey Schriver with 17 and Alexia Gustafson with 13 kinda' put the kibosh on Nashua's Lady Porcupines, 63 to 32. For Nashua, Tasha Chamberlain led her team with 10, Sandy Viste and Taylor Laumeyer each had 6, Cordelia Nickels 4 and Ruleigh Delich , ChyAnn Clampitt and Ziggy Chamberlain each hit a deuce.

Former Porcupine Shay Fisher, now a Lady Wildcat of Circle, hit the game high 18 points as Circle defeated Dodson, 75 to 30. Janessa Henry scored 17 for the Lady Coyotes.

Four teams advanced an four de-vanced, getting sent to the recycle bin early.

Early morning loser-out action on day two saw Brockton send Nashua home in a close, hard fought game 61 to 58 in OT. Then MonDak absolutely creamed Dodson, 68 to 19.

The first evening game pitted the SWH Lady Panthers against the Lady Warriors of Fairview, who came into the tourney seeded second behind MonDak from the 2C.

Two identical quarters, 13 to 12 and 13 to 12, saw the Panthers with a two point lead at the half but after a mid-game snack of raw meat the ladies from SWH outscored the ladies from Fairview 27 points to 9 points in the final 16 minutes of play. Final score: SWH 53, FV 33.

SWH got a very nice game from Keira Simonson with 18 points and a double/double by Larimie Scheffelmear, 11 points and 10 rebounds. Tatum Moore hit for 11, Kourtney Simonson added 8, Kayleigh Cummings 3 and Kayla Howard hit a deuce.

For Fairview, Hurley and Schriver each hit for a dozen.

Shay Fisher hit 16 points and Devynn Schillinger added 11 in Circle's victory over Scobey, 52 to 42. The Lady Spartans went on to beat Brockton, 63 to 49, and then lost to Fairview in the consolation game, 58 to 44.

For the second straight year the Lady Panthers advanced to the championship game, only to lose to Hinsdale (2014 runner-up) last year, 52 to 48, and this year to Circle, 49 to 48. Seems the divisional tournaments aren't kindly towards SWH head coach Amber Erickson. Two nail-biters.

The Lady Panthers will face the Belt Lady Huskies in the first game of the state tournament this weekend. Belt lost six seniors, but their bench is strong and carried them to yet another number one seed and a chance at a four-peat. The Lady Panthers are bent on stopping that run after losing to Belt last year at state by a mere 10 points. Belt absolutely mauled the Hinsdale Lady Raiders 63 to 19 in the championship game last year.

SWH pulled out to a 17 to 11 first act lead but then went entirely to sleep for the entire eight minutes of the second stanza and let Circle outscore them 14 to 2, giving the edge to Circle 25 to 19 at the midway mark.

The Lady Panthers clawed and scratched their way back to a 30 to 31 one-point deficit going into the fourth period of play. It was nip and tuck, forth and back all the way and in the final quarter of play the Circle Lady Wildcats had scored 18 pernts while the SWH Lady Panthers hit 18 themselves still leaving them lacking by one bean: 49 to 48.

For Circle it was again Shay Fisher leading all scorers with 17. Cierra Loudon handed in 11 points and a hefty 8 rebounds.

The Lady Panthers got 16 point from Tatum Moore, 13 from Keira, 10 from Kourtney, and Larimie hit for 9. Only four of the five starters scored. SWH shot 7/9 ft's and Circle hit 16/27 and that was the name of this game. Free throws.

I'm glad the Lady Panthers got that game out of their system before going to state, but it did put them against the No. 1 team in the state in their first game at Missoula this Thursday. The SWH team will be ready and I know they are anxious for a rematch against the Lady Huskies.

And that's how it went the 2015 girls Eastern C Divisional Tournament.

That's it for now folks. Thanks for listening.

 

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