BILLINGS — We’re back courtside at First Interstate Arena in Billings for Championship Saturday at the Class AA state basketball tournament. The morning loser-out and third-place games are complete:
GIRLS
• Missoula Hellgate 54, Billings Senior 45
• Missoula Big Sky 58, Butte 29
• Missoula Big Sky 46, Missoula Hellgate 35, consolation
BOYS
• Missoula Hellgate 55, Billings Senior 47 (OT)
• Missoula Big Sky 50, Helena 44
• Missoula Big Sky 55, Missoula Hellgate 53, consolation
Follow along here for live scores, highlights, and reaction from the girls championship. And keep an eye out for the upcoming live-blog for the boys championship, as well. We’ll have on-site coverage from Scott Breen, Alec Bofinger and Mike Scherting.
* * * Class AA updated scores and pairings * * *
7:41 p.m. | Raptors 8 away from repeat
We're headed to the fourth quarter, and Gallatin leads West 46-33. If the Raptors hold on from there, they'll go back-to-back. West's boys rallied from 12 down in the fourth quarter last night. Can the girls do that same?
7:36 p.m. | A drought coming
Both teams hit a slow stretch for a bit, but another Jada Davis steal and layup broke Gallatin's scoreless stretch. Bryn Fitzgerald answered with a 3-pointer for West, but it's still 42-31 Gallatin with about 90 seconds left in the third quarter.
7:28 | Raptors on a run
Reese Enderson scored the first bucket of the second half to get the Bears wtihin 30-25, but it's been all Raptors since. A 9-0 run has them back up by 14, 39-25, with 4:33 left in the third quarter.
7:18 p.m. | Halftime check-in
West is led by Reese Enderson with nine points and Reagan Soucy has seven. Jada Davis of Gallatin finished the half with nine points. Saydey Perry has seven. West is shooting 44% compared to Gallatin's 52%.
7:15 p.m. | Bears wake up
West fell behind by 14 early in the second quarter, but the Bears have gained some composure since then. They finished the half on a 12-5 run and cut the deficit to 30-23 at the break.
6:58 p.m. | Raptors in control
The Raptors are putting a lot of pressure on the ballhandler, and it's paying off. Gallatin leads 20-9 after the first quarter.
6:50 p.m. | Stealing away
A couple quick steals and layups by Gallatin's Jada Davis has the Raptors up early on the Golden Bears 11-3. Davis has six points already, and West takes a timeout with 4:18 to play in the first quarter.
6:32 p.m. | Girls championship preview: Gallatin (21-0) vs. Billings West (19-2)
There are still a couple minutes of warmups left, followed by team introductions before we get started here. So here's a brief introduction for these two teams.
Though defending champion Gallatin has won the last three meetings with Billings West, it’d be difficult to label this series as ‘one-sided.’ Final scores of 60-57 (in overtime), 53-49 and 66-63 (again, in OT) would indicate the Raptors and Golden Bears have another good one in store for us. In deference to last night's triple-overtime game between the Missoula Hellgate and Billings West boys in their semifinal, anyone up for quadruple-overtime in this one?
