HELENA — Four Helena-area high school basketball teams have clinched berths in their respective state tournaments, which tip off Thursday at multiple sites.
The Helena High boys finished their regular season with the Western AA’s top record, skipping the Bengals past the play-in round and into the Class AA state tournament for the first time since 2019. The Bengals will enter their first-round matchup on Thursday coming off nearly two weeks of rest and preparation.
“Well, the nice thing is we get to work on things that we need to get better at,” said Helena head coach Brandon Day. “To have a full week and a half to really improve our game, change up a few things — you know, a few new little wrinkles in our defense and offense — I’m excited to have the opportunity, and I think it’ll work out well for us.”
It’s an exciting time for Bengals fans as the Helena High girls will also return to their state tournament for the first time in six years. The Bengals officially punched their ticket Thursday night, winning a home play-in game over Kalispell Glacier.
“Obviously, we’ve wanted it before, but we’ve never known what it felt like,” said senior guard Grace Murgel. “And it was just kind of surreal. It was kind of like all the hard work paying off and reaching our goal that we haven’t reached in like six years as a program.”
Thursday night also saw another Helena-based Class AA team clinch its state-tournament spot by winning a home play-in game. A 55-38 victory over Missoula Big Sky sent the Helena Capital boys into the state tournament as the third seed out of the West.
It’s an accomplishment the Bruins were eyeing as early as preseason.
“I think we’re just kind of hoping to make a run at it,” Belzer told MTN Sports before the season. “We’re a team. We believe we can beat anybody. And I think making that state tournament, seeing what happens from there, that’s the goal.”
And finally at the Class A level, the East Helena boys are heading to their first state tournament in program history. It’s all thanks to some late-game heroics at the Eastern A divisional tournament from junior guard DeonDray Ellis, who hit a game-winning, buzzer-beating 3-pointer to propel his Vigilantes past Havre and clinch a state-tournament berth.
The Class AA state tournament runs Thursday through Saturday in Bozeman, while the Class A state tournament runs Thursday through Saturday in Billings.
