BILLINGS — The Havre Blue Ponies reached the Class A girls basketball state semifinals for the ninth consecutive year by beating the Bigfork Valkyries 49-37 Thursday morning in the first round of the state tournament at First Interstate Arena.
The Dillon Beavers then forced their way into the semifinals as well, fighting off a stubborn Lewistown Golden Eagles team 47-42 in another first-round game.
In its fourth season as a varsity program, the Lockwood Lions won its first-ever state tournament game and reached the semifinals for the first time with a 52-43 win over the Frenchtown Broncs.
Defending champion Billings Central rolled in first day’s final game, cruising to a 70-35 win over Columbia Falls.
Havre and Dillon will meet at 3:30 p.m. in a semifinal game on Friday, followed by Billings Central and Lockwood at 5 p.m.
Lewistown and Bigfork will face off in a 9 a.m. loser-out game. Frenchtown and Columbia Falls play at 10:30 a.m. in the other loser-out contest.
Havre 49, Bigfork 37
It may have started out to be a season of transition for the Blue Ponies after longtime coach Dustin Kraske, who guided the Blue Ponies to six state championships, stepped down last April.
But the young-but-experienced Blue Ponies haven’t seemed to miss a beat under the guidance of first-year coach Tommy Brown.
“It’s our chemistry and the way we play together, the way we work,” Havre’s Tierra Parker said. “We’re all family on the team.”
Parker was one of three players in double-digit scoring for the Blue Ponies. Amaya Jarvis led the way with 19 points, followed by Parker, the team’s lone senior, with 11. Ela Harber added 10 points.
“Well, I’m happy with outcome, obviously,” Brown said. “I think that stemmed from all of our kids that came in and just brought the fight to them and executed the game plan very well. Just really proud of our kids.”
Jarvis scored nine of her points in the first quarter, helping the Blue Ponies to an 18-12 lead. That ballooned to as many as 15 points, and the Blue Ponies led by 12 at the break.
Bigfork never did close the gap, and finished shooting just 22% from the floor for the game against a physical and aggressive Havre defense.
“We put a lot of time into working on defense,” Jarvis said. “I think we know going into games, if we start off defensively strong, then it will carry over to our offense.”
Braedon Gunlock scored 15 points and Paeten Gunlock had 11 to lead Bigfork.
Dillon 47, Lewistown 42
Dillon coach Josh Keller and players Kenleigh Graham and Kylie Konen readily admitted the Beavers’ first-round victory wasn’t a piece of art.
Wins at this time of year aren’t supposed to be, even if the matchup features an established program and Western A champion against a relative newcomer like Lewistown, the fourth seed from the Eastern A making its first state appearance since 2016 and the only team in the bracket with a losing record at 10-13.
The Beavers were just happy to be smiling after this one.
“We talked about, just in the locker room, that there’s probably no such thing as many pretty games at the state tournament,” Keller said. “It’s survive and advance time, and there are no bad teams here. Lewistown’s here for a reason. They beat some really good teams to get here.”
The game was scrappy from the start — it was just 6-3 Lewistown after the first quarter — and the biggest lead by either team was six points.
In the decisive fourth quarter, the lead exchanged hands three times before a Cassie Keller 3-pointer gave the Beavers the lead for good at 37-35 with 3:40 to play. It was still a two-point game when Konen drove the baseline with 38 seconds left four a four-point cushion, and Dillon sealed the game with four straight free throws combined from Konen and Graham sandwiched around a Riley Roche 3-pointer for Lewistown.
“There definitely wasn’t a time where we could let up and think we had it in the bad,” said Konen, who tied with Cassie Keller for a team-high 11 points. “We had to stay strong the whole game … yeah, it was rough.”
Ava Robinson made four 3-pointers and scored 14 points to lead Lewistown. Eleven of those points came in the first half, and a defensive adjustment of rotating three defenders on her in the second half helped the Beavers keep the game from getting away from them.
Lewistown also got 10 points from Lexy Burnham before she fouled out late in the fourth quarter.
“There’s always going to be a little bit of pressure at every state game, but you’ve just got to play through it,” Graham said. “Keep a good head on you and keep pushing through.”
Lockwood 52, Frenchtown 43
Maybe it was the newly purchased crisp white suit Lockwood coach Rob Tedlund was wearing. Or perhaps it was the red-and-white beaded pendant made by the family of one of this players Tedlund was wearing around his neck that he said has brought the Lions good luck.
Maybe, but the Lions players themselves also brought good fortune their way as what once seemed unobtainable became reality.
Taysha Little Light has been with the Lockwood program since day one and you would have had trouble convincing her then that she and the Lions are where they are now.
“Honestly, I didn’t think we would” be a semifinal team, Little Light said. “But we’ve come a long way. We’ve all put in the work and the time into this game, and we all love it.”
Little Light always seemed to be in the right place at the right time, producing what Tedlund called Little Light’s best offensive game of the year. She scored 16 points and had four assists, while Dani Jordan, the team’s leading scorer during the season, finished with 13 points.
Though it wasn’t the smoothest offensive performance of the year for the Lions, who made it to state last year but went 0-2, the 52 points they scored was the most Frenchtown has given up this season.
“It feels really good,” said Lockwood junior Kannah Franco. “Just all my hard work I put into it, I feel like it’s paying off. I really went out today, I played my hardest and I just played for my team.”
Mason Quinn scored 20 points to lead Frenchtown, which led 11-7 early but never again. She also had 10 rebounds, four assists and two steals.
But this game belonged to the Lions, who have to gear up for a semifinal against unbeaten and defending champion Billings Central. The Rams have beaten the Lions twice this season.
Whatever the outcome of Friday’s game, though, the Lions put another block in their foundation on Thursday.
“My biggest thing is I’m happy for these girls,” said Tedlund, who has been Lockwood’s only girls basketball coach so far. “My first open gym six years ago …” – and then he motioned to Little Light sitting to his left – “ … this kid right here walked in with shorts that probably would still fit her, they were like four inches below her knee.
“To see those kids work that hard that long ago until today, I’m just really happy for them. No matter what happens down the road, they always get to say that they’re the first to win a state game at Lockwood.”
Billings Central 70, Columbia Falls 35
The Rams scored the first nine points of the game and didn’t allow a field goal in the first quarter. They led by 25 points already in the second quarter and went on to claim their seventh straight semifinal berth.
“The girls play hard, they come to play,” Billings Central coach Jetton Ailes said. “We challenge them every day in practice to get better every day. And it shows … I think we’re 72 practices in together, so if we’re not ready now, it’ll be a long night. But they came ready to play.”
Kam Reinker had 17 points — including the 1,000 point of her career — and 14 rebounds to continue her penchant to put up double-doubles for the Rams. Annika Stergar and Coral Old Bull scored 12 points each, and Amaya Lorash contributed 11 points.
The Rams shot 43% from the field – that number was hurt by a 3-for-19 performance from the arc – and grabbed 53 total rebounds, 26 on the offensive end and 27 defensive.
They also had 13 steals and held the Wildkats to 23% shooting. Taryn Borgen and Emalee Alton both had eight points to lead Columbia Falls.
It’s pretty easy to see why the Rams are where they are and Thursday’s game simply reinforced that. Only one team has played within single digits of the Rams, and the win over Columbia Falls was their 27th victory in a row. Billings Central has been victorious in 43 of its last 44 games.
This state tournament already is a far cry from last year, when the Rams won their three games by a combined 11 points. Their tournament-opening went into overtime.
“I think last year at state we really started to see the things that we could accomplish,” said Ryen Hadley, who had eight points, two rebounds and five steals. “I mean, we lost to Miles City that semifinal game at divisionals, and I think that lit a fire under us and we just got to work. Coach Jet and her staff really prepares us for these moments.”
There are more moments for the Rams to get ready for, starting with Lockwood in Friday’s semifinals. As of now, they look ready for anything that comes their way.
“I think it has to do a lot with complacency, like, we’re never settling,” Old Bull said. “We’re always wanting more. And I think it’s more of a ‘want,’ like we all love basketball enough to want to be better, not only for ourselves in a selfish manner, but to make that extra pass, to make the extra plays, to hustle for one another.”
