BUTTE — It's still January, but the Butte High girls basketball team has been enjoying a level of success it hasn't had in years.
The Bulldogs — currently ranked at No. 3 in the latest MTN Sports Class AA girls basketball power rankings — are 6-1 overall, 2-0 in Western AA play, and on a five-game win streak. All of those marks are bests for fourth-year head coach Bryan Arntson who noted that getting to this point has taken a lot of effort and belief.
"It's been a work in progress," Arntson said at a practice on Tuesday. "I kind of think the girls understand where we're at and understand the standard that we're trying to uphold every day. And they've just been working hard, and I'm extremely grateful for what they've brought every day."
The Bulldogs fell to Dillon 57-46 on Dec. 17 but haven't dropped a game since and are one of three Western AA girls teams to win both of its first two conference games, the others being Kalispell Glacier and Missoula Big Sky. The Bulldogs will travel to take on the Wolfpack on Friday and host the Eagles on Jan. 24.
"I feel like our program is really thriving right now," said sophomore guard Cadence Graham, who finished her freshman campaign as the seventh-leading scorer in Class AA with 263 points. "I think people used to overlook us and now they're like, 'Butte High, that's them.'"
Piling up wins the past month has been nice, but this team's ultimate goal is to end its state tournament drought. The Bulldogs' last appearance at state was during Arntson's first season back in 2022, when Butte went 0-2 at the tournament in Billings.
Butte's seniors like Brityn Stewart haven't advanced out of the Western AA divisional tournament — which was eliminated this season in favor of play-in games — since they were freshmen. And with no divisional tournament standing in the way, the Bulldogs know that, if they keep winning, they'll advance.
"When I went to state my freshman year it was the best time," said Stewart. "To go back would be very special, especially ending it out my senior year."
