MISSOULA — Huntley Project is more than just Paige Lofing.
Sure, the Gatorade Montana player of the year and Gonzaga commit scored a game-high 23 points in the Red Devils' 65-50 win over rival Baker in the Class B girls basketball state championship at Dahlberg Arena on Saturday. But Huntley Project put together a complete team performance to win the school's first-ever girls basketball title.
"We're deep. We got a lot of weapons, and any given night any girl can step up," Huntley Project coach Ryan Bouchard said. "And this whole state tournament we've had multiple girls step up and want the ball and get crucial buckets at crucial times, so (I) just couldn't be more proud of them."
Photos: State B girls basketball tournament concludes in Missoula
In the fifth meeting of the season between the District 3B rivals, their familiarity with each other was evident in the early going, as it took two minutes for either team to score. Lofing scored the first five points of the game, and the Red Devils led 7-0 before Baker finally got on the board at the 4:34 mark of the first quarter.
Though the Spartans would get within four on multiple occasions in the first half, Project would never trail and led 31-22 entering the second half thanks in part to a hot-shooting performance from Carlei Plainfeather, who made three 3-pointers and scored 11 first-half points.
"I was feeling good, my shot was feeling good," Plainfeather said. "I was just letting it fly any chance I got and having all the confidence in my shot."
Ivy Grimsrud, Lofing and Madison Akins quickly pushed the Red Devils' lead to 38-23 early in the third quarter, prompting a technical foul on the Baker bench. That's when Lofing left her imprint on the game.
She split the technical free throws and moments later had a run of eight straight Project points, including a step-back 3 and another 3, to make it a 50-26 game.
"It's really just keeping the hype up and letting her do her thing," Plainfeather said of the moments Lofing takes over the game. "And just being ready whenever we get our chance and just keep her going."
"It makes it easy to have my job then, you know, right? You just let her go create a little bit," Bouchard said. "We'd run a lot of high pick-and-rolls for her tonight just to go and create stuff and ... it worked out well for her."
Project outscored Baker 21-9 in the third quarter. Offensively, the Red Devils made 7 of 13 shots, including 4 of 8 3s, in the period. But it was their defense that made the difference.
The Spartans were just 2-of-14 shooting in the third quarter and 0 for 7 from 3-point range. Madison O'Connor, who scored 38 and 47 points in Baker's first two games of the state tournament, had 17 on 7-of-19 shooting in the championship. Her 102 points are the most ever scored by a girl in a three-game state tournament appearance, according to Montana sports historian Rocky Erickson, but she was hounded all championship by Lofing.
"(Lofing) wanted to guard (O'Connor), and I said absolutely, that was my game plan, too," Bouchard said. "And she did a great job of just sitting down and really locking her up for the best you (can) for that kind of caliber player, right?"
For the game, Baker made only 2 of 23 3-point attempts, while Project was 11 of 29 from behind the arc.
In addition to her 23 points, Lofing had seven rebounds, three assists, one steal and one blocked shot. Plainfeather added 18 points, finishing with four made 3s. Sannah Windy Boy contributed eight points and seven rebounds for Project.
Hope Gonsioroski had a double-double of 14 points and 10 rebounds to lead Baker.
"We just had to keep going — like, can't just rely on one player," Plainfeather said. "We had to work as a team and come together as a team. It just feels good to be a champ."
"It's amazing. I'm just so happy for these girls," Bouchard said. "Some of them have played together since their fifth, sixth grade. All the time, effort, camps, just to have them finally reach that summit, that was kind of our goal, was to hit that summit this year, and I couldn't be more proud of them."
Missoula Loyola placed third with a 66-47 win over Malta in the consolation final. Spencer Laird had 27 points and 13 rebounds for the Breakers, who also beat District 6B rival Florence 48-47 in a loser-out game earlier Saturday.
