HELENA – The first time the Helena High and Helena Capital girls basketball teams squared off, it ended with Capital leaving Helena High with an overtime win and giving the Bengals their first loss of the season.
Monday night, this time across town at Helena Capital, it was the Bengals who walked away with the 49-39 win against the Bruins, leaping Capital for the second-place spot in the Western AA as the regular season winds down.
“Our defense has come ready to play, and just the confidence in our girls — they’re believing that they’re turning from a good team to a great team — and the inexperience that we had earlier in the year, now we have a bunch of games under our belt and now they have some experience,” said Helena High head coach Eric Peterson.
That confidence extends to the offense, too, especially from outside the 3-point arc. The Bengals made nine 3-pointers on Monday, six from Paige and Payton Aasved.
“We’re just shooting the ball the way we have all season,” said Peterson. “We just happen to be making a few more. (It) goes back to our girls having confidence and being able to shoot those and know they’re going in rather than hope they’re going in.”
Both Helena High and Capital are on the road on Thursday. The Bengals are taking on Missoula Hellgate while the Bruins are at Missoula Big Sky.
Bengals even up cross town with a 49-39 win over Capital. #mtscores pic.twitter.com/NkseuJ2nGn
— Andy Curtis (@AndyCurtisKTVH) February 20, 2018
Speakers and/or mics went out in the middle of the national anthem before crosstown tonight. So the Helena and Capital student sections picked up the slack. #USAUSAUSA #mtscores pic.twitter.com/JQz21bWBQL
— Andy Curtis (@AndyCurtisKTVH) February 20, 2018
