DILLON — Saturday night's doubleheader between Montana Western and Lewis-Clark State was more than just Senior Night for the Bulldogs. For Lindsay Woolley and his women's basketball squad, a win would give them the Frontier Conference regular-season title and a first-round bye in the conference tournament next week.
From tipoff to the final horn the women's game was a battle. Both teams had their spurts of momentum and leads throughout the game, but the action really picked up in the fourth quarter where a winner couldn't be decided at the end of regulation.
As the first overtime was coming to an end with about 10 seconds left on the clock and Lewis-Clark up two the inbound pass went to Dillon native Brynley Fitzgerald, who took it from the top of the key, drove right side and hit the game-tying layup with 1.5 seconds left on the clock.
Into the second overtime the game went and the Warriors were able to put the game away on the some late baskets, opening up at one point a seven-point lead that the Bulldogs could never recover from. The Warriors went on to win 82-79 and deny Western's chances at the No. 1 seed in next week's conference tournament.
Montana Western will return to Straugh Gymnasium Wednesday night to host seventh-seeded MSU-Northern. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
The men's game tipped off following Senior Day festivities for Bulldog seniors Savanna Bignell, Cedric Boone, Connor Burkhart and Derrek Durocher.
The Bulldogs have not had their share of good outings against Lewis-Clark State this season, but behind a solid showing in the first half from Burkhart and James Jones the Bulldogs were within three points of the Warriors at halftime.
With about 15 minutes left to play, the Bulldogs managed to grab their first lead of the game and they'd hold onto it for the next eight minutes until a 7-0 run by L-C State put the Warriors up 57-51 with seven left to play.
And much like the women's game, this one came down to the wire, but a late 3 from Cedric Boone to tie it up was just off the mark, and Warriors held on 70-67 to complete the sweep on the road.
