BILLINGS — It will be an all-Eastern affair in the State A girls semifinals, after Hardin and Livingston joined Billings Central and Havre with first round wins Thursday.
Hardin 64, Browning 38
Hardin used an 18-2 run in the first half to jump on top of Browning and cruised to a 64-38 opening round win.
The Bulldogs, led by Kamber Good Luck in the first half with 16 points, never trailed at First Interstate Arena. They led 37-14 at halftime and 46-25 after three quarters.
Good Luck finished with 18 points, while Marie Five added 14 and nine rebounds.
Dulci Skunkcap led Browning with 15, though the team only shot 26.5% from the field.
Livingston 51, Corvallis 48
Livingston closed on a 16-9 run and withstood three game-tying three-point attempts in the final seconds to upset West No. 1 seed Corvallis 51-48.
After Abby Kokot made one of two free throws to put the Rangers up three, Corvallis' Hanna Hutchison raced the length of the court and fired a three. It missed, but the Blue Devils got the offensive rebound and found Hutchison again, who missed. The same thing happened a third time, as Hutchison couldn't tie the game at the buzzer.
Corvallis led 22-20 after a tight first half. The Rangers made a run in the 3rd to take a 35-31 lead going into the 4th, but the Blue Devils opened the final quarter with an 8-0 run to steal the lead back at 39-35.
That paved the way for Livingston's comeback.
Kokot and Taylor Young led the Rangers with 10 points each, while Kodie Vondra added nine. Madeline Gilder led Corvallis with 13 points. Hutchison finished with 11.
NEXT: Hardin and Livingston will play in the last State A semifinal Friday night at 8:00 p.m. Browning and Corvallis will meet in a loser-out game at 1:30 p.m.
