SHERIDAN, Wyo. -- The winning streaks live at least one more night.
Montana's girls and boys pulled off a sweep of Wyoming down in Sheridan, as the girls pushed their winning streak to eight and the boys to 17 in the Midland Roundtable Montana-Wyoming all-star basketball series.
Montana girls 55, Wyoming 52
Montana jumped ahead after the first quarter and led for the majority of the game, but Wyoming grabbed its first lead since the opening minutes late in the fourth quarter on a Kam Townsend bucket in transition.
Montana had an answer, but Wyoming kept it tight down the stretch. Wyoming held a one-point lead with less than a minute to play, but Forsyth grad and Montana State commit Lindsey Hein sealed her defender on an out-of-bounds play and put in the go-ahead bucket. Two Gracee Lekvold free throws sealed Montana's 55-52 win.
"We talked about the streak a lot, and I didn’t want to be the one to blame for losing it, so just have to step up to the line with confidence," said Lekvold.
Fort Benton's Aspen Giese led Montana with 15 points. Hein added 13 and Lekvold had 12. Wyoming Gatorade player of the year Ally Fertig led all scorers with 16.
Montana boys 109, Wyoming 104
Montana's boys had to fight to push their winning streak to 17, out-lasting Wyoming 109-104.
Montana built a double-digit lead in the third quarter, but Wyoming answered back and eventually took the lead with less than five minutes to play in the fourth quarter.
"They found a way to win and that's what good teams do," Montana head coach Steve Keller said. "Give them credit. They did everything. We made a couple big plays right down the stretch to help win the game."
With the game tied at 102, Montana finished on a 7-2 run, icing the game from the free throw line. Montana shot 37 of 40 from the foul line.
Missoula Sentinel duo Alex Germer and Tony Frohlic-Fair led the way scoring, pouring in 25 and 23 points, respectively. Germer finished 15 of 17 from the foul line.
Luke Hladky, who scored more than 1,700 points in his high school career, had 22 to lead Wyoming, 13 of which came in the second half.
"They made a ton of 3s. That little Hladky kid, he's a heck of a player. He can get to the rim on you," Keller said. "We've got to make some adjustments. We're going to have to guard them at the 3-point line a little better. They never posted anybody. We helped off too much, so we'll make some adjustments and it will be another great game (Saturday) night. Hopefully we can get a packed house in Lockwood."
Montana's girls now lead the all-time series 34-13, while the boys push the advantage to 62-27.
