Lady Bulldogs win Monday challenge game

In a rare Monday challenge game to end an exciting Southern C Basketball Tournament at Miles City, the CCHS Lady Bulldogs defeated the Lady Mustangs of Jordan to secure a spot at the state tournament in Great Falls this weekend. CCHS will kick off their bid at state against the number one team from the north, Roy-Winifred, on Thursday afternoon at 3:30 p.m.

The Lady Bulldogs started the divisional tournament with a win over Broadview-Lavina last Wednesday. The 'Dogs had a double digit lead by the end of the first quarter and rolled to victory, 79-44. They out-rebounded Broadview-Lavina (34-24) and won the turnover battle (11-23) in the victory. Nine Bulldogs scored in the contest; four of them finished in with double-digit points. The girls shot 62.5 percent on free throws, 49 percent on two-pointers and 33 percent from deep. Heidi LaBree led all scorers with 23 points. Codi Melton led CCHS in rebounds with 7. Hailey Fiske had 17 points for Broadview-Lavina.

CCHS 22 47 60 79

B-L 11 20 35 44

CCHS: Heidi LaBree 23 pts, 5 rbnds, 2 trns, 4 asts, 6 stls; Kendra Tooke 14 pts, 6 rbnds, 1 trn, 1 stl; Tyra O'Connor 11 pts, 5 rbnds, 2 trns, 1 stl; Codi Melton 10 pts, 7 rbnds, 2 trns, 2 asts, 4 stls; Kendall Shepherd 6 pts, 2 trns, 1 stl; Zoie Rost 6 pts, 1 rbnd; Nasya O'Connor 4 pts, 6 rbnds, 1 trn, 1 stl; Kendall Kittelmann 3 pts, 2 rbnds, 1 trn, 1 ast, 3 stls; Brynn Loehding 2 pts, 2 rbnds, 3 asts.

The Lady Bulldogs had a third meeting this season with Melstone after a night off, and lost the semifinal game at the Southern C, 41-55. Blue was down by only 3 at half, but Melstone pulled away with a 21 point third quarter in which they hit 5 three-pointers. On December 18th the girls lost to Melstone 48-60, and in their second meeting on January 22nd they lost 38-76. In Friday's tournament game, CCHS out-rebounded Melstone 32-22, but an off night from the field, particularity from deep, contributed to the loss. The Lady Bulldogs went 0-22 from outside the arc while Melstone was 8-19. CCHS went 11 of 21 from the free throw line; Melstone was 19 of 27. Eighth grader Nasya O'Connor had a strong outing with 12 points and 8 rebounds, but it was her defense on Melstone's Draya Wacker that really stood out throughout the game. O'Connor tallied 5 steals, 3 of which came directly during one-on-one scenarios against Wacker. Wacker though, still had a game-high 26 points and hit 4 three-pointers. Heidi LaBree had 14 points for Ekalaka.

CCHS 10 21 33 41

Melstone 16 24 45 55

CCHS: Heidi LaBree 14 pts, 6 rbnds, 1 trn, 4 asts, 4 stls; Nasya O'Connor 12 pts, 8 rbnds, 1 trn, 5 stls; Codi Melton 7 pts, 7 rbnds, 4 trns, 1 ast, 1 stl; Tyra O'Connor 6 pts, 3 rbnds, 1 ast; Kendall Shepherd 2 pts, 2 rbnds; Kendall Kittelmann 4 rbnds; Kendra Tooke 1 rbnd; Brynn Loehding 1 rbnd, 3 trns.

CCHS took care of business in their loser-out matchup versus Wibaux on Saturday morning. The Lady Bulldogs outscored the lady Longhorns in each of the first three quarters and held on for a 10-point win. They shot 8-10 on free throws and 19-50 from the field. Wibaux, meanwhile, shot 12-28 on free throws and 13-50 from the field. Blue had 13 steals in the contest; Codi Melton led with 4 of them. Annika Lunde led all scorers with 23 points for Wibaux. Heidi LaBree had 17 for Ekalaka.

CCHS 15 23 34 51

Wibaux 12 14 23 41

CCHS: Heidi LaBree 17 pts, 4 rbnds, 2 trns, 4 asts, 3 stls; Codi Melton 11 pts, 3 rbnds, 3 trns, 5 asts, 4 stls; Tyra O'Connor 8 pts, 4 rbnds, 1 trn, 1 ast, 2 stls; Kendall Kittelmann 5 pts, 1 rbnd, 1 trn, 2 asts; Nasya O'Connor 4 pts, 6 rbnds, 3 trns, 2 asts; Kendall Shepherd 3 pts, 2 rbnds; Kendra Tooke 3 pts, 1 rbnd, 1 ast, 1 stl; Brynn Loehding 1 rbnd, 1 stl.

In the consolation game on Saturday afternoon, CCHS defeated Harlowton-Ryegate 49-25. Lady Blue led by 10 points at the end of the first and never looked back. Eleven of their 29 rebounds came on the offensive glass. They also shot nearly 40 percent on threes (5 of 13). Kendall Kittelmann went a perfect 3-3 from deep and finished with 9 points. Codi Melton had a team-high 10 rebounds and Heidi LaBree led in points with 17 and steals with 8. Gracie Anderson scored seven for Harlowton-Ryegate.

CCHS 14 29 34 49

H-R 4 14 19 25

CCHS: Heidi LaBree 17 pts, 4 rbnds, 2 trns, 4 asts, 8 stls; Kendall Kittelmann 9 pts, 2 trns, 1 stl; Codi Melton 7 pts, 10 rbnds, 3 trns, 3 asts, 1 stl; Tyra O'Connor 6 pts, 4 rbnds, 4 trns; Nasya O'Connor 5 pts, 6 rbnds, 2 trns, 1 ast, 2 stls; Kendra Tooke 3 pts, 1 rbnd, 1 trn, 3 asts, 1 stl; Kendall Shepherd 2 pts, 1 rbnd, 1 ast; Brynn Loehding 3 rbnds, 1 trn.

After the win in the consolation game, Lady Bulldog players and fans anxiously awaited the outcome of the championship game between Jordan and Melstone. The Bulldogs found themselves in the unusual position of rooting for their conference foes, the Lady Broncs. A Melstone win, more so a Jordan loss, would give Ekalaka the opportunity to challenge Jordan on Monday night for a shot at heading back to the state tournament. Melstone led by eight points at the half and came away with a 12-point victory, 48-36.

Although they had defeated Jordan twice during the regular season, once by 13 and once by 11, the Lady Bulldogs were looking for revenge since Jordan beat them at the District 4C Tournament by 2 points in an overtime thriller. Also possibly still lingering in their minds was a 7-point overtime loss to the Lady Mustangs that occurred in last year's divisional tournament and ended their bid at reaching the state tournament for a fourth straight year in 2021.

Monday's challenge game didn't disappoint.

The game was a scrappy, defensive battle and was close throughout. Rebounds and turnovers were nearly even for both teams. Jordan managed 18 offensive rebounds though, and limited CCHS to only 4. The Bulldogs made only 8 field goals in the game. They turned it over 17 times. But none of that really mattered. They won anyway.

It seemed really it was grit and determination (and free throws) that got the job done. The score was only 24-20 at the end of the third quarter, but Blue racked up 18 points in the fourth and won by 8. Heidi LaBree made an impressive 17 of 19 free throws and finished with a game-high 21 points. She also had 9 rebounds. As a team, CCHS shot 25-34 from the stripe. Lindsay Lawrence scored 15 points in the Mustangs' final game. Jordan was only 8-23 on their free throws.

CCHS 7 15 24 42

Jordan 9 12 20 34

CCHS: Heidi LaBree 21 pts, 9 rbnds, 3trns, 2 asts, 5 stls; Codi Melton 8 pts, 4 rbnds, 1 trn, 2 asts, 2 stls; Nasya O'Connor 6 pts, 4 rbnds, 4 trns; Kendra Tooke 4 pts, 3 rbnds, 1 trn; Tyra O'Connor 2 pts, 2 rbnds, 2 trns, 1 stl; Kendall Kittelmann 1 pt, 2 rbnds, 1 trn, 1 stl; Kendall Shepherd 2 rbnds, 3 trns; Brynn Loehding 2 trns.

The win put the CCHS Lady Bulldogs (20-5) into the Montana Class C State Girls' Basketball Tournament for the fourth time in five years. The girls previously won the Southern C Divisional tournament for three straight years before a third place finish last year. Their first game at state is at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday versus Roy-Winifred (24-0). Roy-Winifred has made five state tournaments in the past six years. They finished second at the state tourney in 2019, won a share of the Class C girls title with Belt in 2020 and finished third in 2021.