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

The Turner Tornado girls basketball team hosted the Chester/Joplin-Inverness Hawks in their home and District 9C opener. After playing in Glasgow and Harlowton the previous two weeks, the girls were set to play games that counted towards the postseason. The Hawks got the best of Turner, securing a hard fought 47-45 win. Saturday, the Tornadoes hit the road to face the Pioneers in Big Sandy. Turner played hard but fell to the Pioneers 57-52. Turner now holds an overall record of 1-5, 0-2 in conference play.

Freshman Ali Doyle got the Tornadoes on the board early with a dribble drive for an easy layup just :16 into the contest. Doyle connected twice from the charity stripe moments later for a quick 4-0 Turner lead. Junior Cassidy Grabofsky found her mark from distance for a 9-4 Tornado lead midway through the first quarter. Chester/J-I scored the final four points in the stanza to send the teams to the second quarter all knotted up at 11-11.

Turner began the second quarter with a three ball from Grabofsky to start the quarter, but three points from the Hawks again evened the score, this time at 14-14. The Hawks took their first lead of the contest only to see freshman Natalie Richman convert a left-handed hook shot to even the contest at 16-16. Natalie would connect on a short baseline jumper to tie the score at 18-18 with 3:04 left in the half. Chester/J-I closed out the half strong, outscoring the Tornadoes 9-2 to take a 27-20 halftime lead.

Sophomore Bridget Reed scored inside for the Tornadoes, but the Hawks responded on the other end to push the lead to ten at 32-22. Junior Meridian Sniders' strong move inside cut the deficit to eight, 32-24. Reed scored on a runner and Cassidy secured the offensive rebound and scored, bringing Turner within five, 33-28. Chester/J-I scored a couple of buckets to extend their advantage to 37-28, leading to a Turner timeout with 2:26 remaining in the third quarter. Cassidy connected from the right wing for a triple to swing the momentum back to Turner and Doyle scored on a nice move to the basket. Reed put an exclamation point on the Turner rally, completing the fast break with 0:02.3 left on the clock, sending the teams to the fourth quarter with Chester/J-I holding onto a slim 37-35 lead.

Natalie Richman connected from 12' off a nice pass from Doyle and then Doyle finished at the rim to even the score at 39-39. Natalie banked in a 15' from the right elbow to give the Tornadoes their first lead since the first quarter, 41-39 with 4:45 remaining in the contest. Doyle went off the glass to push the Turner lead to four, 43-39 midway through the fourth. The Hawks trimmed the lead to one, 43-42 with 2:41 remaining, leading to a Tornado timeout. CJI regained the lead coming out of the timeout 44-43, but Natalie Richman responded with a shot that just fell over the rim to give Turner a 45-44 lead with time winding down.

The Hawks were fouled, securing the offensive rebound, sending them to the charity stripe with 1:35 remaining on the game clock. Chester/JI missed both giving Turner back the ball. The Tornadoes looked to run some clock off, but an errant pass led to a Hawks basket on the other end and a 46-45 CJI lead. Turner couldn't convert late, leading to a 47–45 Hawks win over the Tornadoes. Cassidy Grabofsky led the way with 11 points in the contest, while Doyle and Natalie Richman each scored 10. Reed contributed eight points to the Turner attack.

Saturday in Big Sandy, The Tornadoes turned in another valiant effort against the Pioneers, despite a huge night from Reed. Turner trailed the Pioneers 16-15 at the end of the first with Reed scoring five, including one from downtown. Turner stayed close in the second, trailing 29-27 by intermission, getting four more points from Reed. The Tornadoes pulled even at 44-44 entering the fourth quarter. Reed dropped in a pair from distance and scored eleven in the quarter to lead the comeback.

Big Sandy carried the momentum down the stretch and secured the hard fought 57-52 win over the Tornadoes. Turner played two very solid games and just came up short. It's early in the season and to see the scores flip late in the season would catch no one by surprise. Reed led the Tornado effort with 26 points in the contest.