(Note: this article will be updated)
GREAT FALLS -- The Fort Benton boys and girls basketball teams each defeated Simms on Thursday, moved to 22-0 and advanced to the semifinals (where they will each face Belt) on the second day of the Northern C divisional tournaments at the Pacific Steel and Recycling Four Seasons Arena.
Meanwhile, the Chinook boys advanced to the semifinals after defeating Roy-Winifred, while the Big Sandy boys pulled off an exciting comeback win in overtime against Heart Butte to set up a date with the Sugarbeeters in the semifinals.
Fort Benton 61, Simms 44 (boys first round)
Garett Diekhans scored 22 points and younger brother Hayden added 15 as Fort Benton beat Simms 61-44 in the divisional opener for both teams.
Simms opened the game on a 5-0 run and ended the first quarter with a 14-13 lead, but Fort Benton responded in the second quarter to take a 10-point lead at halftime. Simms would hang around but never threatened the Longhorn lead in the second half.
Fort Benton advances to Friday's 4 p.m. semifinal against Belt. Simms plays Centerville in loser-out action at 8 a.m. Friday.
Fort Benton 64, Simms 18 (girls first round)
The Fort Benton girls dominated from start to finish, beating Simms 64-18 in first-round action.
McKenzie Clark tallied 24 points and Megan Clark added 19, while Aspen Giese recorded nine assists for the Longhorns, who will play Belt in a semifinal game at 7 p.m. Friday.
Draylen Sawyer led the Tigers with six points. Simms will play Denton-Geyser-Stanford at 11 a.m. in loser-out.
Chinook 50, Roy-Winifred 45 (boys first round)
Reese Elliot scored 17 and added four blocked shots to lead Chinook over Roy-Winifred 50-45.
Ethan Bell and Toby Niederegger each added 12 points for Chinook, while Tyler Fordyce scored 15 to lead the Outlaws.
Chinook led by seven at halftime, but the Outlaws scrapped to the bitter end, briefly taking a lead in the fourth.
Roy-Winifred will play Heart Butte in loser-out on Friday at 9:30 a.m.
Big Sandy 68, Heart Butte 65 - OT (boys first round)
Ryan Roth scored 43 points, including five points in the final 30 seconds of regulation, to help lead Big Sandy to a comeback 68-65 win over Heart Butte.
Heart Butte had control for much of the first half and early third quarter, leading by as many as 16. Seven Warriors scored in the first half, led by Marcus Rutherford with 10. Rutherford would finish with 16.
But Big Sandy mounted a furious comeback starting late in the third. Finally, down 61-56 with just more than 30 seconds left, Roth hit a pull-up 3-pointer from the right wing to make it 61-59. The Pioneers then fouled to send Heart Butte to the line for double bonus free throws, but the Warriors missed both. Out of a Big Sandy timeout, a heavily guarded Roth connected on an off-balance jumper to tie it 61-61 with two seconds left in regulation.
Roth fouled out in overtime, but his teammates took it from there, outscoring Heart Butte 7-4 to secure the victory.
Roy-Winifred 50, Turner 35 (girls first round)
Olivia Geer scored 16 points to lead Roy-Winifred to a 50-35 win over Turner.
The Outlaws had just a one-point lead after the first quarter but used a 10-0 run at the start second quarter to create distance and pull away.
Eighth-grader Laynee Elness added 13 points for Roy-Winifred while Trinity Edwards grabbed 11 rebounds. Sarah Billmayer was the only Turner player ind double figures with 15 points.
Roy-Winifred advances to play Hays-Lodgepole in the divisional semifinals.
Hays-Lodgepole 62, Augusta 51 (girls first round)
The Hays-Lodgepole girls withstood a furious fourth-quarter rally from Augusta to pull out a 62-51 win over the District 10C champs.
The Thunderbirds were up 22-1 after the first quarter and led by 27 points in the second. It was 46-24 entering the fourth quarter until the Elks erupted for 27 points cutting the lead to single digits.
Mulleeah Stiffarm scored 17 to lead the T-Birds, Ella Messerly added 12. Olivia Isakson led Augusta with 16 points, Payton Levine pitched in 11.
The T-Birds will face Roy-Winifred Friday at 8:30 p.m., while Augusta will battle Turner at 12:30 p.m. in loser-out action
Centerville 49, Sunburst 36 (boys loser-out)
Denton-Geyser-Stanford 47, Valier 43 (girls loser-out)
