The Miles City Cowgirls held off a furious Laurel rally in the second half for a 51-44 win in the quarterfinals of the Eastern A divisional basketball tournament inside First Interstate Arena at MetraPark in Billings.
Miles City led by double digits in the third quarter, but Laurel trimmed it to two on multiple occasions in the fourth quarter, but the Cowgirls were able to hold off Laurel from the foul line to move in to Friday night's semifinal round.
Miles City's Veronica Turck led all scorers with 13 points and was joined in double figures by teammate Lainey Smith. Alyse Aby and Emma Timm had 10 for Laurel.
The Cowgirls will face the Billings Central/Sidney winner in Friday night's semifinal, while Laurel will have to battle through loser-out play.
Hardin
Hardin jumped on Lewistown right out of the gate and cruised to a victory over the Golden Eagles, 71-33, to advance to Friday's semifinal against the Havre/Lockwood winner.
Hardin led 18-8 after the first quarter and saw that lead balloon 21 at halftime. As the Bulldogs pushed their lead above 30 in the third quarter, Kamber Good Luck splashed in a triple to surpass 1,000 career points.
The Bulldogs enacted a running clock midway through the fourth quarter. Lewistown will fall to loser-out action.
