RONAN — The Western A divisional girls basketball tournament had the semifinal matchups at Ronan High School on Friday. Here are the recaps and highlights in the videos above:
Frenchtown 53, Browning 47
The first semifinal of the day was between No. 2 Southwest A Frenchtown and the No. 1 Northwest A Browning, and it was the Broncs who came out on top with a 53-47 win to advance to the championship game.
With the win, Frenchtown also secured a spot at the State A tournament in Bozeman March 9-11.
Madison Kaufman scored nearly half of the Broncs points, finishing the game with 23. Frenchtown led at the half, 29-20. After the third quarter the Broncs still led 42-38 as the Indians began closing the gap, but Frenchtown held on down the stretch.
Browning was led by senior Mecca Bullchild who had 16.
Frenchtown will now play in the Western A championship game against Hamilton on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. Browning will play Polson in a loser-out game at 9 a.m. on Saturday with a spot at state on the line.
Hamilton 55, Dillon 51
The second semifinal of the day featured the No. 1 Southwest A seed Dillon taking on the No. 3 Southwest A seed Hamilton, and it was the Broncs who pulled off the upset, winning 55-51 to book their ticket to the championship game while also securing a spot at the State A tournament.
Junior Taylor McCarthy led the Broncs with 17 including five 3-pointers on the day. At halftime, Hamilton held a narrow 28-26 lead.
After the third quarter it was still neck-and-neck with Hamilton hanging onto a 40-38 lead in the back-and-forth contest. It stayed close until the final plays when Hamilton just pulled away to secure the four-point win.
Junior Sydney Peterson led the Beavers with 15.
Hamilton will now play in the championship game against Frenchtown on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. Dillon will take on Columbia Falls at 9 a.m. on Saturday in a loser-out game with the winner of that contest advancing to state.
