Blaine County Athletes Shine at 35th Annual Hi-Line Invitational Tournament
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Harlem senior Taya Trottier represented her Lady Cat teammates well at the H.I.T. and was named to the Girls Tournament All-Star Team. Trottier has committed to play basketball for the MSU-Northern Skylights this fall, essentially making her tournament a 'Home' game. In addition Trottier was joined on the Class B All-Star team by fellow Skylight teammate, Rachel Van Blaricom from Jefferson High School.
The MHSA has officially concluded the 2021-22 Montana High School Basketball Season, State Champions were crowns and post season honors were distributed. That's not the end of high school basketball though, it's the start of All-Star Tournament season.
Across the state various incarnations of high school All-Star basketball tournaments will be held. The District 9C Senior Classic, Boys and Girls All-Class All-Star tournaments are scheduled in Billings and Dillon and the Boarder Battle between Wyoming and Montana will take place later this spring.
The Hi-line though is home to one of the very best. The 35th Annual Hi-line Invitational Tournament (HIT) took center stage this past weekend. Many of the states top players from all over the state, representing all four classifications AA, A, B and C were on hand to entertain fans with an entertaining style of basketball.
The HIT is considered one of the premier All-Star tournaments in the region and is also one of the oldest. Originally operated by the Malta Athletic Club the event has been held for many years at the Armory Gymnasium on the campus of Montana State University-Northern and organized by Skylight Head Coach Chris Mouat and Lights Head Coach Shaun Huse.
After having to work around Covid-19 protocols the past two years, this years tournament was back to its old self. Even the original founder himself, Babsie Bishop was on hand to take in the action.
Blaine County was well represented very well with four All-Stars playing in the tournament. Lady Cat senior Taya Trottier, Wildcat senior RJ Ramone, Wildcat junior Caleb Cole and Sugarbeeter senior Oskar Pula all had fine tournaments for their respective teams.
Trottier looked right at home at the HIT, and that for many local hoop fans, is a good thing. Trottier committed to playing for the Skylights just prior to the start of her junior season and will look to bolster their lineup this fall.
Trottier was named to the HIT Girls All-Tournament team and was a leading scorer. She was joined on the Class B All-Star team by fellow Skylight commit, Rachel Van Blaricom from Jefferson High School. The Class B team also included another face familiar to District 2B fans, Malta's Allison Kunze.
The Class B All-Stars lost to Class A 80-74 with Trottier scoring 16 points. The Class B also fell to Class C 72-70, Trottier tallied 12 in the contest. The Class B All-stars picked up a win over Class A 103-83 on Saturday as Trottier scored 19. Trottier scored 17 points for the Class B Saturday morning in a win over the Class AA 82-70.
Pula was the Sugarbeeters lone representative and played very well. Joining him on the Class C roster were some faces familiar to District 9C and Northern C fans including Winnett/Grass Range senior Walker Doman and Belt senior Bridger Vogel. Pula played a huge roll in the Sugarbeeters success this past season leading the team in scoring, rebounding and blocked shots.
Pula scored nine points for the Class C in a 100-88 setback to the Class A Thursday night. Friday he tallied five points in a 112-104 set back to the Class B All-Stars. Friday night Pula contributed eight points in a 97-94 setback to the Class AA. Saturday afternoon the Chinook senior scored 11 for the Class C in a 122-85 win over the Class B.
Chinook senior Oskar Pula played very well for the Class C squad and represented the Sugarbeeters very well.
The Wildcats had two All-Stars on the Class B squad led by senior RJ Ramone and junior Caleb Cole. Ramone turned in another outstanding season, garnering District 2B All-Conference recognition for the fourth time as well as being Northern B All-State for the third time.
Cole was a spectacular late season addition to the Wildcat roster and played a huge roll on the Wildcats runner up finish at the Class B State Tournament in Bozeman earlier this month.
Joining them on the Class B All-Star team were Malta's Conner Tuss, Rocky Boy's Joe Demontiney, Fairfield's Kaelob Flores, Lodge Grass's Ty Moccasin, Eurekas Gavin Bates and Three Forks Fin Tesoro.
In a 112-104 win over the Class C on Friday Ramone scored 13 points while Cole finished with three. The Class B suffered a 99-84 setback to the Class AA Friday night with Ramone scoring 11 and Cole 10. Saturday morning Ramone poured in a dozen in a 123-89 setback to the Class A boys. Saturday afternoon Ramone finished with six point and Cole scored 11 in 122-85 loss to the Class C All-Stars.
