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

The Chinook Sugarbeeters had a good 2021-22 season and from that team they return the bulk of their line up losing just one starter to graduation. Head Coach, Mike Jones is back once again to lead the 'Beeters and will be assisted once again by Mike Seymour and Tammy Schoen.

Chinook returns All-State and All-Conference junior, Hallie Neibauer as well as All-Conference senior, Bree Swanson. Both will be expected to lead the team on and off the court once again. Chinook returns a ton of talent to go alongside them bolstering the roster top to bottom.

Back are seniors Torin Cecrle and Anna Terry, juniors Mya Berreth and Jenna Liddle as well as sophomores Alexus Seymour, Addison Olsen, Hannah Schoen, Sami Malsam and Gracie Skoyen. Freshmen this year include Brooke Fetter, Falyn Cecrle, Ashlyn Hofeldt, Neva Lowe and Kirby Hofeldt.

"We only lost one senior, we have everyone else coming back including four starters. Lot of roll players coming back so our girls are in the know, so it's building on what we already have in place" stated Jones. "We're missing one and it's tough to fill that void so we're looking for leadership to replace that loss."

The 'Beeters have plenty of building blocks to work with, "We're looking for fundamentals and getting some of those roll players from last year to step up into bigger rolls this year," added Jones.

The addition this year of the Shot Clock certainly has got Jones attention, "We have some new things to put in defensively and work on defensively as well as offensively. We have some short shot clock things to do, jump ball, out of bounds situations, late in the shot clock. Some token full court pressure kind of stuff that can force teams to waste some time on the shot clock."

Offensively Jones know where his team is best, "We'll be up-tempo, for sure, let our athletes just go. Always been my philosophy, just let them play. If we're going it (shot clock) shouldn't apply, but it will, some defensive things will stop us an we'll need to run a set here or a set there so we have to go over those things. We can't just rely on transition. We still got to make sure we have a ten second play, so we have some stuff to put in for sure."

Defensively Jones has a game plan in place, "We'll do a match up zone and we will play man to man like we did last year. We will focus mainly on those two things and make sure we are connected. I told the girls it's like having a seventh defender out there; we have the five on the floor, we have our bench which is six and now we have the shot clock which is seven."

It's a unique challenge that the team has accepted completely, "We don't want to look at is as oh man we have to get a shot up in thirty five seconds offensively, we want to look at defensively and think we can hold teams and get turnovers with the shot clock so it's like having another defensive player."

Jones reflected on his teams defence a season ago, "Against a good team we would play good man defence for thirty seconds and a good team would reset again and we would have to play for another hard thirty seconds. It's the nature of the game, it's hard to play solid defence for a long stretch."

The younger kids have impressed Jones, "They are athletic and they're picking up some stuff pretty quickly. I always tell all my teams that I've coached you never know when you will need an underclassman, so lets build them up get them to the level where we need them."

The 'Beeters will get their season started at the Shelby Preseason Tournament on Friday, December 9 at 3:00 pm when they will take on the Cut Bank Wolves. Saturday, December 10 the girls will face the Shelby Coyotes.

The 'Beeters will open District 9C play on the road in Big Sandy where they will face the Pioneers on Friday, December 16. Chinook will host the Box Elder Bears on December 17 in their home opener. Chinook will close out 2022 on the road when they will face the Thunderbirds in Hays on December 21.

The 'Beeters will return to the court in 2023 with a short road trip east to take on the Harlem Lady Cats on Friday, January 6. The girls will face the Turner Tornadoes on January 7 in their first home contest of the new year.

Junior Hallie Neibauer was a force in the Northern C a year ago and earned All-State and All-Conference selections. Neibauer will again be asked to play a huge roll for the 'Beeters this season.

The remaining regular season schedule has the 'Beeters on the road January 13 against the North Star Knights. Home games against Fort Benton on January 14 and Big Sandy January 19 will follow. The team will then have two road contest, the first on January 21 in Box Elder and then Chester on January 22.

Home games with Hays/Lodge Pole January 28 and Harlem, February 3 will follow. A road contest in Turner is scheduled for February 4 and Senior Night will take place on

February 10 against North Star. The regular season finale will be in Fort Benton, February 11.

The District 9C Tournament will again be held at Havre High School and will run from February 15-18, the top three teams from the District 9C Tournament will move on to the Northern C Divisional in Great Falls. The Northern C features a nine team format and will be held at the Four Seasons Arena February 22-25.

The top two teams from the Northern C Divisional will then move on to the Class C State Tournament in Billings, March 8-11. The State C Tournament will be played at Rimrock Auto Arena at Metra Park.