LEWISTOWN — The Denton-Geyser-Stanford-Geraldine girls basketball team will be the top seed out of the Southern C for the upcoming state tournament, as will the Winnett-Grass Range boys as both sides won divisional titles Saturday night.
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D-G-S-G girls 54, Melstone 39
The Denton-Geyser-Stanford-Geraldine girls have made quite an entrance into the Southern C.
The Bearcats topped Melstone 54-39 in the divisional championship game, improving their record to 22-0 in their first season as part of the Southern division.
“They're hard to beat once, let alone four times. ... It was nice to play Melstone. They're one of the better teams in the state and they're a good basketball team. We're fortunate to beat them," D-G-S-G coach Beau Smith said. "I think that helped us a lot getting prepared for big moments and knowing how to handle them. We do a pretty good job when the chips are down."
D-G-S-G jumped on Melstone, taking a 22-11 lead after the first quarter and extending that to 37-20 at halftime. The Broncs were unable to draw closer in the second half, as D-G-S-G extended its lead to 50-29 after three quarters.
“We hang our hat on the defensive end. We talk about all the time that offense doesn't always travel but defense does," Smith said. "We know if we're not knocking shots down that our defense will always keep us in the basketball game."
Bearcats junior BriElla Becker led all scorers with 20 points.
D-G-S-G will be the Southern C’s top seed at the Class C state tournament in Missoula, while Melstone will play Custer-Hysham in a challenge game on Monday to determine the South’s No. 2 seed after the Rebels beat Harlowton-Ryegate in the third-place game.
Winnett-Grass Range boys 64, Roy-Winifred 41
The Winnett-Grass Range boys are kings of the Southern C. The Rams topped District 7C rival Roy-Winifred 64-41 to claim the divisional title.
"We wanted to win tonight. We wanted that championship trophy. The game starts and they punched us in the mouth, but we responded just like we did (Friday). It was good to see the kids do that," Winnett-Grass Range coach Brandon Bantz said.
Roy-Winifred led 7-2 early, but Winnett-Grass Range quickly erased that with a 10-0 run. A one-handed jam by Jace Bantz just before the end of the first half gave the Rams a 24-17 lead, which quickly grew to 30-18 out of the halftime break.
Roy-Winifred eventually trimmed it to 47-39 with just under five minutes to play, but three consecutive 3-pointers from Wyatt Melton put the game on ice.
"I don't think he's shot that well all year, but boy has he turned it on in tournaments," Bantz said of Melton. "District championship game he hit five 3s after going down with a bum ankle, then all weekend he's been shooting the ball really well, so that's been huge for us."
Winnett-Grass Range will be the Southern C's top seed at the state tournament, while Roy-Winifred will take on Denton-Geyser-Stanford-Geraldine in a Monday night challenge game after the Bearcats defeated Forsyth in the third-place game.
