The Turner Tornadoes were back on the court for the first time since winning a pair of games in Glasgow to start the season two weeks earlier. Turner opened District 9C play Friday night with a home contest against the Fort Benton Longhorns. The Tornadoes got off to a fast start and then held on for a 52-47 win. Saturday the boys were in Chester taking on the Hawks. Turner never found any footing in dropping their first contest of the season 58-32

The Turner Tornadoes got on the board early with an easy bucket off a nice inbound by junior Trent Billmayer. Turner scored the first six points of the contest before the Longhorns connected from beyond the arc to cut their advantage in half, 6-3. Fort Benton scored underneath moments later to trim the lead to one. Junior Ryan Doyle answered at the 3:13 mark with a triple from the top of the arc to push the Tornadoes lead back to four, 9-5. Sophomore Carson Maloney got free underneath for a score and sophomore Tate Beck knocked down a corner three off a nice swing pass from Maloney for 14-8 lead with 2:13 remaining in the quarter.

Turner began the second quarter up 16-9 and were looking to carry that momentum into the break. Billmayer stepped in front of a Longhorn pass and streaked to the basket for an easy layup and a 22-10 advantage leading to a Fort Benton. Doyle connected with sophomore Caleb Zellmer in the paint for another score to keep the offense rolling. Zellmer added an offensive rebound and put back on the Tornadoes next possession to double up the Longhorns 26-13 with 4:07 left in the half. Turner kept playing pressure defense forcing the Longhorns into turnovers resulting in a pair of breakaway layups from Doyle. Zellmer connected twice from the charity stripe to give Turner a 38-20 lead late and Turner would take a 38-22 lead into the break.

The offense seemed to stall a bit after the break, making points a little more difficult to come by. Doyle knocked down a three ball from the left elbow but after scoring 22 points in quarter number two, the Tornadoes managed just eight in the third quarter. Turner still held a comfortable 46-32 lead heading into the fourth quarter but the Longhorns weren't going away without a fight.

Fort Benton quickly cut the lead to ten, 46-36 with four points early and trimmed the Tornado advantage to single digits, 46-38 with 5:01 remaining in the contest. Turner Head Coach Darci Ammen called timeout looking to settle her team down. Beck made a beautiful pass to a cutting Maloney to push the turner lead back to ten, 48-38 with 3:28 left on the clock. The Longhorns scored four in a row to trim the lead to 49-42. Turner turned the ball over on a shot clock violation giving the ball back to a suddenly hot Fort Benton team. Turner called a timeout with 1:01 remaining and the lead down to just five 49-44.

Doyle took a nice pass from Billmayer on the low block and score to push the Turner lead back to seven, 51-44. Doyle added a free throw moments later putting the finishing touches on a hard fought 52-47 Tornado win. Doyle finished the contest with a game high 23 points including a pair from beyond the arc. Zellmer, Calvert, Billmayer and Maloney each scored six in the win.

Turner was in Chester Saturday night to take on the Hawks in hopes of extending their win streak. Turner fell behind early and were never able to get back in the contest. Maloney scored five first quarter points and Doyle added a pair of free throws but the Tornadoes found themselves down 16-7 heading into the second quarter. The offense didn't get any better before the half as they just couldn't get their shots to fall. The Hawks extended their advantage over the Tornadoes, taking a 20-11 halftime lead.

Billmayer connected from beyond the arc in quarter number three and Maloney and Calvert each scored a bucket. Trailing 40-18 heading into the fourth quarter the offense found a bit of a groove. Maloney knocked down a couple of threes and the Tornadoes scored 14 down the stretch. Chester/J-I took a 58-32 win over the Tornadoes handing the team their first loss of the season. Maloney led the way with 17 points in the contest.

Turner played in Dodson on Monday and will host the Box Elder Bears today as they close out 2022. Results for both games will appear in next weeks Blaine County Journal.