RED LODGE — The Columbus and Red Lodge boys and Shepherd and Big Timber girls punched their tickets to the Southern B divisional tournament with semifinal wins at the District 4B tournament Thursday.
Columbus boys 45, Joliet 39
Top-seeded Columbus held off a pesky Joliet squad, 45-39, to advance to the District 4B championship game.
Physical defense from both sides set the tone early, as scoring was hard to come by. Columbus led 22-17 at halftime and eventually pushed the lead to double digits. Joliet, though, rallied back and made the Cougars seal the game from the free throw line in the final minute.
Ethan West led Columbus with 15 points. Joliet's Jake Cook also scored 15.
Columbus will play in Saturday's championship game, while Joliet will play Park City on Friday in loser-out action.
Red Lodge boys 67, Shepherd 45
Red Lodge opened the game on a 17-2 run on its way to a 67-45 victory over Shepherd, sending the Rams into Saturday night's District 4B title game against Columbus.
The Rams led 21-6 after the first quarter but Shepherd trimmed it to 33-20 by halftime. Red Lodge, however, extended the lead to 25 points midway through the third quarter to effectively put the game on ice.
Nic Morean poured in 22 for Red Lodge to lead all scorers, while teammate Calvin Garmann added 17.
Red Lodge and Columbus are slated for a 6 p.m. tip on Saturday, while Shepherd falls to loser-out action and will play Big Timber on Friday evening.
Shepherd 63 girls, Park City 33
The Shepherd girls continue to decimate opponents.
The Fillies enacted a running clock against Park City in Thursday's semifinals en route to a 63-33 win over the Panthers. Shepherd led 39-13 at halftime.
Hailey Dennison led all scorers with 14 points for Shepherd, while teammate Rina Gottula added 11.
Shepherd will play in Saturday's championship game at 7:30 p.m., while Park City will play Roundup in loser-out action on Friday.
Big Timber girls 35, Columbus 27
Big Timber's 10-2 run spanning the end of the third quarter into the early portion of the fourth proved to the difference, as the Sheepherders held off Columbus for a 35-27 win in the semifinals of the District 4B tournament.
The two sides were knotted at 20 apiece before Big Timber finally gained some separation from the Cougars, though Columbus hung around and forced the Herders to make free throws to seal the game.
Big Timber's Grace Casey was the only player in double figures scoring 14 points.
Big Timber will play Shepherd at 7:30 on Saturday night, while Columbus falls to loser-out action and will play Red Lodge on Friday.
