The Blaine County Journal News-Opinion - We've Got The County Covered

The first full week of the high school basketball season had plenty of action with the Chinook Sugarbeeters competing in Chester at the Hawks pre-season tournament, while the Harlem Wildcats and Hays/Lodge Pole Thunderbirds were in the field at the Native American Classic in Havre being played at the Montana State University-Northern Armory Gymnasium.

The Sugarbeeters got their season off to a fast start with a lopsided 62-15 win over the Sunburst Refiners Friday and a 39-31 win over the Power Pirates on Saturday.

The Harlem Wildcats looked to make a statement in their opener against the defending Class C champion Box Elder Bears Thursday night. After a solid first half the Wildcats led the Bears 34-30 but the second half was a different story and Harlem fell to the Bears 79-54.

The Wildcats responded in their Friday game by defeating Lodge Grass 55-39.

The Thunderbirds played well in both their games but were unable to find the win column. In their first contest they battled hard against the Browning JV forcing overtime before falling 43-39.

The Thunderbirds were again very competitive Saturday morning as they took on the Kanai (Alberta) Warriors but the visitors were able to pull away down the stretch, defeating the Thunderbirds 50-41.

The Sugarbeeters were looking to get off to a fast start in their season opener against the Sunburst Refiners and they did just that. Senior Kourtney Hanson scored the games first eight points and scored 12 in the first quarter helping Chinook take a 20-0 lead before allowing a point.

Chinook extended their advantage to 44-11 by intermission. Hanson scored eight more in the second and senior Rachel Gunderson torched the nets for 12 in the stanza.

Hanson scored all eight of Chinooks third quarter points and the 'Beeters cruised to a 62-15 season opening win over the Refiners.

Hanson finished the contest with 28 points, Gunderson added 18 and freshman Allison Powell contributed eight in the win.

The Sugarbeeters looked to carry that momentum into their second contest against the Power Pirates Saturday afternoon.

Gunderson had things rolling in the first quarter scoring 15 points for the Sugarbeeters. Hanson added six in the first to give Chinook a 22-10 lead after eight minutes of action.

The Pirates quickly made adjustments to start the second and limited the 'Beeters to a lone three point bomb from senior Megan Molyneaux. The 'Beeters maintained a 25-19 advantage heading into the break.

Molyneaux dropped in her second three of the contest and Hanson scored twice from the right block to help Chinook maintain a 33-25 advantage heading into the fourth quarter.

The two teams would each score six down the stretch, giving Chinook a 39-31 victory and a 2-0 start to the season.

Gunderson finished with 19 points while Hanson added 11 and Molyneaux nine.

The Harlem Wildcats have high expectations this season and what better way to gage where your at than to play a top quality team like the Box Elder Bears.

Harlem was able to match the Bears basket for basket in the opening quarter. Skylee Dirden connected from beyond the arc and scored five while freshman Taya Trottier and junior Taeshon Schaeffer each scored four. The two teams entered the second knotted at 15-15.

Dirden connected again from long range and tallied 11 markers providing the spark the Wildcats need to earn a 34-30 advantage heading into halftime.

Harlem played well to start the third but midway through the Bears started to find a rhythm taking a 57-46 lead into the fourth quarter.

The Bears had all the momentum down the stretch and coasted to a 79-54 win over Harlem. Dirden finished with 20 points in the contest Trottier and junior L'Tia Lawrence each finished with 10.

"Was a tough loss last night and coming into this game we knew what we were up against,' stated head coach Marlin Lawrence. "I thought we played very well for the first two and half quarters but we need to put all four quarters together and finish the game.

Lawrence took the blame for the outcome, "Tonight's loss was on me I didn't prepare these girls as good as I thought but I'm happy with their efforts. Going into the second half I thought we started off good and kept it up. About midway through the quarter Momberg and Gopher just took the game over from that point."

"We will go back and watch film to see how we can improve and make any adjustments needed, but overall it was a fun exciting game and now we will put it behind us and prepare for our next opponents," concluded Lawrence.

The team responded well in their next outing against the Lodge Grass Indians.

Harlem fought their way to 24-22 advantage by intermission but the hit the gas in the third quarter outscoring the Indians 20-6 to take control of the contest.

Senior Kourtney Hanson scores a third quarter basket Saturday afternoon. Gunderson and Hanson combined to score 46 in Chinooks 62-15 win over Sunburst on Friday and another 30 in the win Saturday.

Harlem had four players in double figures lead by Lawrence's 14. Dirden added 11, sophomore Melonie Fetter added 10 as did Trottier.

The Thunderbirds faced a very physical Browning JV team in their season opener and after trailing for much of the contest were able to even things up at 38-38 late to force overtime. The Indians would outscore the Thunderbirds 5-1 in the extra frame for a 43-39 victory.

Freshman Jaedyn Chandler led the way with 10 points. Senior Latasha Kirkaldie added 9 for the Thunderbirds.

Saturday morning the girls fell to the Kanai Warriors in another hard fought contest.

Junior Mulleeah Stiffarm tallied 16 points as did Tatianna Morgan but it wasn't enough as the Warriors pulled away late for a 5-41 win over the Thunderbirds.

All four Blaine County teams will be in action this week as the Turner Tornadoes will be back in action.