BUTTE — The Dillon basketball teams looked right at home at the Butte Civic Center on Tuesday evening as the Beavers swept past Butte High in a non-conference doubleheader between the Class AA Bulldogs and Class A Dillon.
The Beavers are heading into this season with new head coaches guiding both programs — Jeff Edwards for the Dillon boys and Josh Keller for the Beaver girls.
The girls game saw the Beavers rally out of an early deficit and roll past the Bulldogs 71-54 to hand Butte its first loss of the season. The Bulldogs led 17-13 after one quarter before Dillon pulled away for a 35-26 halftime lead. Junior Kenleigh Graham led her team with 20 points, Sydney Petersen added 18 and Carroll College commit Halle Fitzgerald scored 17.
The Butte girls were paced by a game-high 22 points from Brityn Stewart, 10 from Ashlinn Mullaney and 8 from Cadence Graham.
The boys game saw the Beavers fend off a late Butte rally and pull away in the final minutes for a 64-54 victory. The Beavers led 28-21 at halftime before Butte took a 44-43 lead into the final quarter.
Dillon's Carter Curnow poured in a game-high 23 points, Kyler Engellant had 14 and Kee Christiansen and Max Davis each had eight. The Bulldogs were led by an 18 points outing from Dylan Bache, 15 from Tocher Lee and 9 from Ruesso Batterman.
The Beavers will host Polson on Thursday while the Bulldogs will play their annual crosstown game against Butte Central on Friday.
