The Hays/Lodge Pole Thunderbirds entered the District 9C Tournament as the No. 7 Seed with a 2-12 conference mark and an overall record of 6-12. A casual observer may have expected the Thunderbirds to do what seven seeds are expected to do. Show up, play a couple of games and go home.

Those who have watched this group play this season, in person or on NFHS, have seen a team more than capable of holding their own against anyone on the court. Despite having just a couple conference wins they have played well for long stretches at a time against quality opponents but maintaining that level of play for 32 minutes has been the problem.

With the exception of the Thunderbirds opening contest with the North Star Knights the Thunderbirds were able to string together three solid games to finish fourth in the field of eight.

The Thunderbirds struggled mightily in their tournament opener against the No. 2 Seed Knights. Trailing 14-5 heading into the second quarter the Thunderbirds were unable to get rolling and showed no signs of slowing down the North Star attack. North Star grew their lead each quarter and walked away with a 61-31 win to send the Thunderbirds into Loser Out action Thursday morning. Senior Alliya Pretty Paint led the Thunderbirds with 11 points in the loss.

Hays/Lodge Pole faced the No. 6 Seed Chester/Joplin-Inverness Hawks Thursday morning and got off to the quick start they were looking for. Chester/J-I led 4-3 early but a three point bomb from Pretty Paint, a steal and layup from senior Nashone Shambo and a couple more buckets from Pretty Paint quickly gave the Thunderbirds a 12-4 lead and left them in control of the contest.

Hays/Lodge Pole continued to control the tempo in the second quarter. Eighth grader Shaydyn Blount scored twice inside and junior Imagin Fox found her range from distance dropping a pair from downtown. Freshman Kelcie Mount added a bucket and senior Shaunte Hawley scored inside to lead on offensive explosion that gave the Thunderbirds a 29-16 halftime lead.

The Hawks would right the ship after the break and match the Thunderbirds on the scoreboard. Hays/Lodge Pole continued to play well after the break and while Chester/J-I may have corrected some things the Thunderbirds never gave anything back and maintained their lead throughout.

Fox dropped in her third three point bucket in the quarter and sophomore Angela Blackcrow added a couple of buckets to help the Thunderbirds take a lead into the fourth quarter. Hays/Lodge continued their consistent play the final eight minutes and walked away with a 50-41 win. Pretty Paint scored 14 in the win and Fox finished with 11 to lead the Thunderbirds.

Friday morning the Thunderbirds took on the No. 5 seed Box Elder Bears, a team they had split the regular season with. Hays/Lodge Pole started strong jumping out to a 17-10 lead on the strength of eight Pretty Paint points and five more from Shambo. The Bears trimmed a few points off the Thunderbird lead in the second to make the score 24-17 heading into the third quarter.

The Thunderbirds battled hard after the break and were able to push the lead back to ten, 37-27 with eight minutes remaining. The Bears rallied but the Thunderbirds had just enough left in their tank to hold them off and secure a well deserved 46-43 win over the Bears. Pretty Paint and Shambo led the way with 16 points each.

The win sent the Thunderbirds into the consolation final Friday night against the Fort Benton Longhorns. Fort Benton owned a pair of pretty comfortable wins over the Thunderbirds during the regular season but Hays/Lodge Pole had played back to back complete games and were looking to make it three.

Hays/Lodge Pole started strong taking an 11-5 lead at the end of one. Fort Benton answered in quarter number two evening the contest at 19-19 heading into the break. Showing the tenacity they had played with the previous two games Hays/Lodge Pol started the second half strong and built a seven point lead 33-26 by the end of the third quarter.

Hays/Lodgepole junior Alliya Pretty Point ignites a first quarter run with a three point bomb setting the tone early in their 50-41 win over the Chester/Joplin-Inverness Hawks Thursday morning.

Fort Benton battled back, scoring a late bucket to defeat the Thunderbirds in heartbreaking fashion 39-37 to end their season. Shambo blistered the nets for 22 points to lead all scorers. The Thunderbirds finished the season strong winning as many games at the District 9C as they did during the season.