LOCKWOOD — The Plenty Coups and Ekalaka girls have set up a semifinal meeting at the Southern C divisional basketball tournament after winning first-round games on Wednesday afternoon at Lockwood High School.
Plenty Coups 78, Harlowton-Ryegate 38
Brynecia Hugs poured in 33 points to lead the unbeaten Plenty Coups girls to a 78-38 win over Harlowton-Ryegate in the first round of the Southern C girls divisional basketball tournament.
Hugs racked up 29 points on 13-of-16 shooting in the opening half, helping the Warriors build a 47-22 lead at the break. Plenty Coups pushed the lead to 40 in the closing minutes of the fourth quarter.
Hugs added eight assists and seven rebounds to her game-high 33 points. Ella Cooney led the Engineers with 11 points.
Plenty Coups advances to Friday's semifinal against Ekalaka, while Harlowton-Ryegate will play in loser-out action on Friday morning.
Ekalaka 61, Custer-Hysham 48
Custer-Hysham led by as many as 17, but Ekalaka outscored the Rebels 40-13 in the second half to grab a 61-48 win in the first round of the Southern C divisional tournament.
The Rebels led by 14 at the break and pushed the lead to 17 within the opening minute of the third quarter. Ekalaka’s Nasya O’Connor answered with 10 consecutive points to pull the Bulldogs back within single digits. The Custer-Hysham lead entering the final quarter stood at 45-42.
Ekalaka out-scored Custer-Hysham 19-3 in the final quarter to punch its ticket to Friday’s semifinals against Plenty Coups.
O’Connor led Ekalaka with 22 points and 15 rebounds, while Olivia Yochum had 11 to lead Custer-Hysham.
Ekalaka and Plenty Coups will play in a semifinal game at 3:30 p.m. Friday.
Custer-Hysham will meet Roberts in a loser-out game at 6:30 p.m. Thursday.
In the first game of the day, Terry defeated Roberts 54-39, dropping the Rockets to the loser-out bracket and sending the Terriers into a quarterfinal game with Melstone at 1:30 p.m. Thursday.
