BOZEMAN — The Bozeman High girls and Gallatin High boys basketball teams punched tickets to the Class AA state tournament on Thursday evening as they both won play-in games.
The Hawk girls rallied from a halftime deficit and pulled past Billings Senior 63-54 to end the Broncs season. Bozeman, which trailed 25-22 at halftime, went 3 for 3 against Senior this season.
Bozeman's Zahara Willis poured in a game-high 26 points — 22 of them in the second half — including a pair of 3-pointers late in the fourth quarter to help her team ice the win. Nula Anderson added 15 points for the Hawks. Senior's Octavia Meyer led her team with 13 points as the Broncs combined for 10 triples.
In the boys game, defending state champion Gallatin rolled past crosstown foe Bozeman 69-54 as the Raptors pieced together consecutive wins over the Hawks, this time with a state tournament berth on the line.
Gallatin led 24-12 by the end of the first quarter and 39-28 at halftime.
The Raptors were paced by 15 points from Carter Dahlke, 11 from Sam Kilwein and 10 from Brett Sonju.
The Hawks got 20 from Kash Embry, 11 from Braxton Black and 10 from Cristian Malloy.
The state tournament begins Thursday at Worthington Arena in Bozeman.
