MISSOULA — Southern B rivals Baker and Huntley Project will meet for the Class B girls basketball state championship.
Both the Spartans and Red Devils won semifinal games by double digits Friday at Dahlberg Arena, with Baker downing Missoula Loyola 83-67 and Huntley Project defeating Chinook 62-44.
Baker 83, Missoula Loyola 67
Madison O'Connor has fun when she's playing basketball.
Even if it might not be obvious when watching her play with her seriously focused demeanor — which was on full display Friday as she relentlessly attacked Missoula Loyola's defense on her way to scoring 47 points to help Baker to an 83-67 win that sent the Spartans back to the championship game.
"I have fun all the time, I love playing with my team, I enjoy every single minute," O'Connor said. "I am more of a serious person, I think, but I do have lots of fun."
While it might have been fun for O'Connor and her teammates, it looked like anything but fun for Loyola's defense, which struggled to contain the standout guard. O'Connor weaved her way through the defense, frequently getting into the paint to get either a good look at the basket or draw a foul.
Of her 47 points, 18 came from the free throw line as she drew 12 fouls in the game. Two Loyola players fouled out of the game and two other finished with four personal fouls.
"Just knowing that their team after the first half was in foul trouble, I think just made me and the rest of our team want to get to the middle, get to the rim, making them having to collapse and make the extra pass or going up strong with it, knowing you're gonna get a body or some foul call, was basically our whole thing," said O'Connor, who also scored 38 points in Baker's first-round win over Malta on Thursday.
Baker, which defeated the Breakers in the championship game last season, led 41-36 at halftime after an intense, physical first 16 minutes. Both teams came out firing and combined to make eight 3-pointers in the first quarter, as Loyola took a 25-24 lead.
Things slowed down in the second quarter, with the Breakers making just 4 of 13 field goals and the Spartans gaining the five-point cushion. They extended the lead to 60-49 by the end of the third quarter.
"In these games, both teams are so good that we're both gonna go on runs," Baker coach Jason Coulter said. "And so it's just who can handle themselves and be able to finally stop that run at whatever points, whether it's a five-point run or a 10-point run or whatever.
"That's just the way it is when you match up against a good team and have high scorers — you know, girls that are averaging around 30 points a game. It's gonna happen. They're gonna score, they're gonna go on runs and you try to outlast them, and today, the second half we controlled really well."
O'Connor, a junior who is committed to play college basketball at Montana State University, made 14 of 29 field goals in the game and added 10 rebounds, four assists and six steals to her stat line. Her younger sister Avery O'Connor scored 20 points and made five 3s.
Hope Gonsioroski chipped in nine points and eight rebounds and at times made life difficult on Loyola star Spencer Laird. Laird had a double-double of 23 points, on 8-of-18 shooting, and 12 rebounds.
"We've only played last year in the title game and then tonight, but they do have size and we have some size and ... everybody on both teams likes to compete," Coulter said. "And when you put competitors against each other, it's gonna be physical and it's gonna be a great game. That's exactly what I expected. I really thought it'd be a a hard-fought battle by both teams."
Baker will now aim for its second consecutive championship when it plays against Huntley Project for the title at 8:30 p.m. Saturday.
Loyola, meanwhile, falls into the consolation bracket and will play District 6B rival Florence in a loser-out game at 10:30 a.m. Saturday.
Huntley Project 62, Chinook 44
It would have been easy for Huntley Project to look past Chinook into the state championship game.
The Red Devils already knew rival Baker was awaiting in the title game, but they remained focused and took care of business against the Sugarbeeters, methodically pulling away for a 62-44 win.
"The girls are doing good at that. They can focus on just these four quarters, that's any game," first-year Huntley Project coach Ryan Bouchard said. "We've said since districts we're just focusing on these next four quarters, and we'll play whoever's up next."
Up next is Baker, but the Red Devils still had to get past Chinook in a semifinal game Friday.
They did so on a night when star Paige Lofing wasn't at her best shooting the ball, but the Gonzaga commit still found a way to help her team win, as she dished out six assists, grabbed four rebounds and swiped two steals.
"Kind of slow night for her, but she still scored (17), right?" Bouchard said. "But that's the great thing about this team, is we have so many weapons that any given night, any girl can step up and do what we need to to get the W,"
Lofing finished the game with 17 points on 6-of-14 shooting, but just a 1-of-7 effort from 3-point range. Sannah Windy Boy was the Red Devils' leading scorer with 19 points on 6-of-7 shooting.
Huntley Project led 17-13 at the end of the first quarter and extended the lead to 33-20 at halftime, limiting the Beeters to just five field goal attempts in the second quarter. Windy Boy had 12 first-half points on 4-for-4 shooting for the Red Devils.
"She played very well, she played very strong and she hit a lot of shots," Lofing said of Windy Boy. "So, she was playing very well."
The teams played even in the third quarter, as Chinook kept hanging around. Alexus Seymour had a team-high 14 points for the Beeters, and Hannah Schoen added 10.
But Huntley Project seemed destined to get to the title game. The Red Devils made 5 of 7 shots in the fourth quarter, playing patient ball and making good decisions. They'll now extend their rivalry with Baker in the championship at 8:30 p.m. Saturday. It'll be the fifth meeting between the two teams this season. They've split the previous four.
"It's a fun rivalry," Bouchard said. "They have a great players, we have great players, they got a college D-I player, we got a college D-I player. It's just great battles. It's kind of fun, historic maybe. Five different times we've met them this year, and each team knows each other well, and I don't think they'll be too many surprises. We'll just go out and battle."
Chinook will play Malta in a loser-out game at 10:30 a.m. Saturday.
