Central girls put season on the line
The season hangs in the balance for the Butte Central girls’ basketball team Thursday. That is when the Maroons host Stevensville in a Western A Divisional play-in game at 6 p.m. at the Maroon Activities Center.
The winner advances to Saturday’s play-in game at Corvallis for the right to play in next week’s Western A Divisional tournament in Whitefish.
BC (5-13, 3-7) beat the winless Yellowjackets (0-18, 0-10) twice in the regular season, and neither game was close. The Maroons rolled to a 66-22 win Jan. 18 in Stevensville. BC completed the regular-season sweep of Stevi with a 43-17 win Feb. 8 in Butte.
The Maroons won that second game despite being very shorthanded because of illness.
Corvallis (7-11, 4-6) topped the Maroons 34-30 this past Saturday in Butte to lock up a bye to Saturday’s home play-in game. The Maroons lost both games to Corvallis in the regular-season, and both were four-point games.
Frenchtown, Dillon and Hamilton all earned berths into the Divisional tournament with their regular-season records.
Central enters the postseason battle with what just might be the youngest high school roster on the planet. The BC regular varsity roster includes freshman Evyn Smith, Kenzie McQueary, Zayonna Otherbull, Braelynn Schelin and Jaedyn Maldonado. Freshman Natalie Osterman scored her first varsity points Tuesday in Dylan, and eight grader Evyn Tippett has seen varsity time this season.
Others on the BC girls’ varsity roster are sophomores Marly Mansanti, Rylee Forbes and Meika Boyer, and juniors Caden Tippett and Arika Stajcar. Coach Quinn Carter’s Maroons do not have a senior.
BC is looking to snap a four game after Tuesday’s 65-27 loss at Dillon. Kylie Konen and Kenleigh Graham each scored 17 points to lead the Beavers, who used 10 3-pointers to roll their record to 17-1 overall and 9-1 in conference play.
Otherbull scored 11 points to lead the Maroons.
Beavers pull away from BC boys
The defending Class A State champion Dillon Beavers used a late run to pull away from the Maroons for a 62-45 victory Tuesday night at the B.W. Lodge Gymnasium.
Dillon ran its record to 17-1 overall and 10-0 in Southwestern A play. The Beavers’ lone loss came in an 80-47 home decision Dec. 17 against Class AA Butte High.
The Beavers will take a 15-game winning streak to Whitefish for the Divisional tournament.
The Maroons will be one of the eight teams at that tournament, too. Despite closing the regular season with the loss to Dillon, BC secured a trip to Saturday with an 80-50 rout of the Blue Devils in Corvallis.
Sophomore Joshua Sutton scored 21 points to lead the Maroons in that win. Senior Owen McPartland and Ryan Peoples each scored 15 points, and freshman Jaxon Hiatt tossed in 10.
Central also got six points from eighth grader Noah Sutton, four from senior Justus McGree and two apiece from junior Zander Strand and senior Patrick Stimatz.
Carter Curnow poured in 19 points, and Kyler Engellant followed with 17 to lead Dillon past BC. Braxton Turney added 12 points.
McPartland scored 25 to lead Central. Peoples hit four 3-pointers and scored 12.
Despite the loss, the Maroons have clearly have been playing their best ball at the end of the season. The loss snapped a four-game winning streak for BC, which is 5-2 in February.
That includes a 5-1 mark against Southwestern A opponents.
Butte High girls honor seniors, rout Bengals
The Bulldog girls sent out their seniors in style Tuesday night with a 67-43 rout of Helena High in a Western AA game at the Richardson Gym.
The victory also clinched a home playoff game for the Bulldogs (12-6 overall and 8-5 in conference), who will most likely be the No. 3 seed entering the postseason. The top two teams move on without a playoff game. The bottom two teams do not get a playoff.
The Nos. 3 and 4 sees host playoff games.
Eight Bulldogs scored points in Tuesday’s win. That includes all four of the team’s seniors — Dylann Bartoletti, Sidney Whitaker, Brityn Stewart and Addelei Hiatt.
The Bulldogs sank eight 3-point goals in the win, but the story of the game was the Butte High defense. The Dogs held the Bengals to 14 first half points, taking a 35-14 advantage into halftime.
Sophomore Cadence Graham hit three threes and scored a game-high 19 points. Stewart scored 12, while Bartoletti and juniors Franki Salusso and Emma Johnson each scored eight.
Sophomore Allie Becker scored six points, and Whitaker tossed in a three.
Eighth graders Ellison Graham and Saege Grey, sophomore Autumn Clary and junior Gracie Jonart also contributed in the win.
Madi Todorovich scored 10 points to lead the Bengals. McKenna Pipinich added eight.
The victory was a bounce back for the Bulldogs, who fell 43-35 Friday at Missoula Big Sky. Cadence Graham’s 13 points led the Dogs in that game. Kenzie Schmitz’s 10 points led the Eagles, who got nine apiece from Kyler Latrielle and Kadynce Courture.
Bulldogs lack bite in Helena
Butte High’s boys’ basketball team did pretty much the opposite of the girls in the last week.
After picking up a huge win at Missoula Big Sky that likely secured a home playoff game for the Bulldogs, Butte High went on the road and fell 76-51 at Helena High Tuesday night.
“I didn’t do a good job of preparing the boys,” Bulldog coach Matt Luedtke said. “We needed a little more fight.”
Jaxan Lieberg scored 25 points, and Tevin Wetzel added 22 to lead the Bengals, who avenged their 74-73 Jan. 30 loss to the Bulldogs in Butte. Wetzel did not play in that game.
Senior Dylan “Bobby” Bache scored 18 points to lead the Bulldogs. That included three 3-pointers. Classmate Tocher Lee also drained three 3-poitners. He finished with 11 points.
Junior Hudson Luedtke scored 10 points, while sophomore Braylon Larson scored seven, junior Rhett Arntson came off the bench to hit a three, and senior Torre Tempel scored two.
Seniors Kyler Kjersten and Spencer Callaghan, junior Kendel Noctor, sophomores Koda Schleeman and Raeder Grey and freshman Brady Hanson also contributed for the Bulldogs.
The loss came four nights after Butte High grabbed a huge 54-47 victory at Big Sky. Larson and Luedtke each scored 15 points in that win. Tempel and Bache each scored eight, Lee tossed in six, and junior Caleb Celli scored his first two varsity points.
While Butte High’s girls close the regular season Thursday at Helena Capital, the Bulldog boys will honor their seniors as they host the Bruins at the Richardson Gym.
In that game, Lee will play in his 82nd varsity game for the Bulldogs. That will tie hm with Jeff Edwards (2004-07) for second all time in Butte High boys’ history.
Lee missed eight games because of injury this season. He missed three while recovering from foot surgery. He suffered that injury early in the football season. Lee then missed five games after suffering a concussion in Butte High’s Jan. 2 win over Bozeman.
So, Lee will not have enough games to pass Doug Edwards, who played 90 games from the Bulldogs from 1936 through 1939.
With 107 career 3-pointers, though, Lee can still pass Chad Jonart’s record of 115. Jonart played from 2002 through 2004.
Henderson has huge day at Simplot
Sam Henderson once again showed why the Montana Grizzlies made the right move in signing the Butte High senior.
Henderson put up another huge weekend while competing at the prestigious Simplot Games at the Holt Arena in Pocatello, Idaho. He excelled in the high jump, triple jump and 60-meter hurdles.
In the high jump, Henderson posted a personal record by clearing 6 feet, 8 inches to claim second place. He also took second in the triple jump with a leap of 46-1 ¼. He rounded out the day with an impressive time of 8.33 seconds in the 60 meter hurdles. That time was just off the PR of 8.29 that he set in mid-January.
Bulldog junior Camden Houchin, meanwhile, competed in the West Coast Championships in Spokane.
Houchin raced to an incredible 26 second PR in the 3,000-meter race. He completed the race in 9 minutes, 13 seconds, which placed him 41st out of 87 runners in this event.
Next, Houchin competed in the 800 meters on Sunday morning. He broke his PR by 8 seconds, finishing 26th out of 130 racers with a time of 2:03.9.
“It was another great weekend for Bulldog athletes,” Butte High cross country and assistant track coach Guy Wadas said.
Cleveland taking talents to Dickinson
Butte High senior Jaycee Cleveland’s remarkable volleyball career is not over.
The 5-foot-8 setter will sign an NAIA National Letter of Intent to play volleyball at Dickinson State at 8 a.m. Friday at Butte High’s Richardson Gym.
Cleveland was a four-year varsity player for the Bulldogs. This past season, she led the Bulldogs with a .234 hitting percentage, 59 aces, .7 aces per set and 566 assists.
The Bulldogs went 11-15 overall on the season. That includes a 9-5 record in the Western AA. That was the best league mark posted by the Bulldogs in many years, according to Bulldog coach Shane Jorgenson.
Dickinson State is a member of the North Star Athletic Association. Under first-year head coach Stormy Siemion, the Blue Hawks went 5-21 overall and 1-9 in league play last season.
Copper City Kings win state title
Butte’s Copper City Kings brought home a state title from the 12U-B State Tournament over the weekend in Bozeman.
Team members are Ryan Ferriter, Hailey Dale, Kenzie Evans, Nick D’Amico, Kelton Dennehy, Tristan Borwn, Kaden Malkovich, Ryan Byrne, Ryan McCarthy, Brayton Burleson, Vera Peterson, Maverick White, Charlee Bogert, Calvin Johnson, Eric Schroeder, Knox Markovich and Corbin Roberts. The team is coached by Jeff Dennehy, Zach Woods, Jason Brown and Cory Markovich.
The Butte team beat Miles City 3-1 in the championship game. On the way to the chipper, Copper City beat the Salmon Rapids 7-4, topped the Bozeman Icedogs 5-2, and downed Miles City 6-1. The Kings also tied the Helena Bighorns at 3-all, finishing the tournament at 4-0-1.
The ButteCast with Bill Foley 