BOZEMAN — It's semifinal Friday at the Class AA girls basketball state tournament at Worthington Arena. Billings Skyview (13-8) and Billings West (19-1) squared off first, followed by Missoula Big Sky (14-5) and Bozeman Gallatin (19-1) for spots in Saturday's championship game.
Billings West 38, Billings Skyview 37
Billings West survived a challenge from crosstown rival Billings Skyview in the Class AA semifinals, escaping with a 38-37 win to move to Saturday night’s state championship game.
The first quarter was indicative of how the game would go with Skyview opening up a 7-2 lead before surrendering a 7-0 run West run. And so it went for the rest of the game, with defense leading to seven ties and nine lead changes.
Skyview led 34-30 with 4:30 left before West forced stops and hit big shots down the stretch. Reese Enderson hit a shot with 1:14 remaining to put West on top 38-37. Skyview got the ball back with seconds left and a chance to win, but the potential game winner fell short of the rim.
Maisie Heggem-Prinkki led the Bears with 11 points and four assists. Enderson added 10 points, while Brooklyn Pierce hauled in 12 rebounds.
"Just coming down to the wire at the end there, every single defensive drill that we've done in practice, all the discipline and all the hard work really came together,” Heggem-Prinkki said. "And I'm just really proud of this team. And I'm ready to go compete for a state title tomorrow.”
West took both regular-season matchups with the Falcons, but both were higher-scoring affairs. The Skyview defense bothered West at times.
“We're averaging 62 points a game so for them to hold us there, you know, it made it tough on us because a lot of times our rhythm comes from our scoring, and we get some momentum off that,” head coach Jason Amundsen said. "So, (we're) glad to come out with the win.”
Skyview’s Rae Smart led all scorers with 14 points and seven rebounds. Tenley Leffler added nine points and Kiki Lonebear added eight. But West has four players over 6-feet tall, which has been a strength all season.
“We've got an advantage with our posts, and if we get it to those girls, our guards have a ton of faith in them,” Amundsen said. "You know, credit to Skyview, they packed it in and made it tough to get it to the post. But when you get it to those girls, they're very effective.”
West will face Bozeman Gallatin in Saturday’s 8 p.m. championship. The Raptors are the only team to hand the Bears a loss this season.
"I think just mentally nothing is given and everything is earned. We have to really lock down, execute, work through our principles and just know that no game is guaranteed,” Heggem-Prinkki said. "And I think that we just have to play four quarters of really tough, disciplined basketball. And I think that we can do that."
Bozeman Gallatin 35, Missoula Big Sky 31
When Gallatin head coach Taylor Cummings emerged from the locker room following the Raptors’ 35-31 semifinal win over Missoula Big Sky, she was soaked. Her team had just drenched her with water bottles after a hard-fought win.
They were celebrating a historic moment. The Raptors are heading to the State AA title game for the first time in the six-year history of the school.
“We've been preparing for this moment all year, and we were very excited,” Cummings said. "And we came a long way from last season to get to this moment. And I'm just super proud of them right now.”
No one could buy a bucket in the first half. Gallatin led 16-10 after two quarters and had managed to hold Big Sky to just one field goal.
“At state when you're on a bigger court, it changes the game for you a little bit,” Cummings said. "But I also just think for these two teams, I think, were very just strong defensive teams. Big Sky just slows teams down and they make them have to work for it.”
Gallatin led from wire to wire, but after pushing the margin to 14 in the second quarter the advantage dwindled from there. Behind Montana State commit Kadynce Couture, Big Sky whittled the lead down to three with just over a minute left.
But Gallatin's Jada Davis hit two clutch free throws with 19 seconds left to effectively put the game out of reach. Davis led the Raptors with 15 points and six rebounds. Ave Odegard added nine points and 10 rebounds, while Makayla Coleman contributed seven points and 12 rebounds.
"We know they zone. And so, being able to go chase down those second-chance opportunities and make them have to stay on defense longer was a key,” Cummings said. "And, they did a great job tonight and they were super strong with the ball, too, and we needed to be."
Couture led the Eagles with 15 points and eight rebounds to go along with four steals and two blocks.
Gallatin will move to Saturday’s championship where it will face Billings West. Both teams entered state with identical 18-1 records, with each loss coming against the other team during their regular-season series.
"I'm excited, now we got to get a redemption game from them,” Davis said. "I feel like when we played in Billings, we didn’t play to our potential, you know? So I feel like right now, like we're all fired up to kind of bring our game to them again."
