HAMILTON — The Dillon boys and girls basketball teams doubled up Saturday night, sweeping the Western A divisional championships at Hamilton High School.
The Beaver boys won the first title tilt, pulling away from Ronan 59-45. The Beaver girls followed suit with a 50-35 win over Frenchtown. Both Dillon teams will be the West's No. 1 seeds at next week's Class A state tournament in Great Falls. The Ronan boys and Frenchtown girls are the division's second seeds.
The Frenchtown and Butte Central boys are the third and fourth seeds, respectively, while Whitefish and Bigfork are the girls' third and fourth seeds.
WATCH THE CHAMPIONSHIP HIGHLIGHTS:
Dillon boys 59, Ronan 45
Braxtyn Turney scored 16 points and Cohen Hartman added 15 as the Beavers got a wire-to-wire win over Ronan in the championship game.
Hartman scored the game's first points, the Chiefs didn't make a field goal for nearly six minutes and Dillon never trailed in the game. The Beavers led 16-10 after one and 30-24 at halftime.
They grew the lead to double digits in the third quarter and — while Ronan kept things interesting the fourth — the Beavers eventually pulled away for the 14-point win to secure the West's top seed for the state tournament.
Turney did much of his damage at the free throw line, making 7 of 9 from the stripe. As a team, Dillon made 17 of 25 free throws, while Ronan was 7 of 16.
The Chiefs were led by Matiya Nenemay with 14 points and Kolby Finley with 12. The Chiefs will be the West's No. 2 seed at next week's state tournament.
Dillon girls 50, Frenchtown 35
A 3-point barrage propelled the Dillon girls to a 50-35 win over Frenchtown in the championship game.
Shannon Martin buried two first-quarter 3s for the Beavers, Cassie Keller made two of her own in the second quarter and Landri Hartman added another before half as Dillon built a 26-19 advantage.
Four more Dillon 3s — two from Hartman, one from Martin and one from Tess Tash — rained in during the third quarter, and the Beavers opened up a double-digit lead they'd hold throughout the fourth.
Martin finished with a team-high 13 points, and Hartman and Tash each added 11.
Frenchtown's Mason Quinn led all scorers with 14 points, but she made just two field goals in the game. She was 9 of 12 from the free throw line.
