RED LODGE -- The top two seeds in the District 4B girls basketball tournament took care of business on Friday afternoon in Red Lodge, as Columbus and Roundup won semifinal games to advance to Saturday's championship. Both teams also clinched spots at the Southern B divisional tournament in Billings in two weeks.
Columbus 50, Shepherd 14
It took the Columbus girls about 12 minutes of game action to wake up, but once the Cougars did they played lights out on their way to a 50-14 victory.
Shepherd led 10-5 early in the second quarter before Columbus turned it up a notch. By halftime, the Cougars grabbed a six-point lead, 18-12. Columbus kept its foot on the accelerator in the second half.
The Cougars outscored Shepherd 19-0 in the third quarter to open up a commanding 37-12 lead. Columbus continued its stifling defense in the fourth quarter, as Shepherd's only two points of the entire second half came on a pair of free throws in the fourth quarter.
Brooklyn Wyllie led Columbus with 13 points and Brenna Rouane added 12.
Columbus advances to Saturday's championship game, where it will meet Roundup.
Roundup 53, Red Lodge 29
Roundup buried five first-quarter 3-pointers to open up a 12-point lead after eight minutes. The Panthers eventually built the lead to 29-13 by halftime on their way to a 53-29 win over Red Lodge to advance to Saturday night's championship game against top-seeded Columbus.
The Panthers wasted no time jumping all over Red Lodge, as a pair of 3s by Blythe Sealey and another by Brennan Larson gave Roundup a 9-2 lead less than two minutes into the game. The hot shooting was a theme all night for Roundup, as it buried six 3-pointers in the first half to build a 16-point lead.
Two more triples in the opening minutes of the second half gave Roundup a 22-point lead, as the Panthers buried nine 3-pointers on the night. Sealey had a game-high 17 points to lead Roundup.
Roundup will need its shooting to carry over to Saturday night, as the Panthers have averaged just 17.5 points per game against Columbus in their two meetings. Saturday's championship is slated to tip at 6:15 p.m.
