Bulldogs, Maroons ready for more

It is do-or-die time for the Butte Central girls’ basketball team.

The Maroons will play Stevensville in a Western A Divisional play-in game at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Maroon Activities Center. The winner will advance to take on Hamilton in another play-in game Saturday in Hamilton.

Central needs to win both games to play in the Western A Divisional tournament, which is March 5-7 in Hamilton.

The Maroons are the No. 5 seed from the Southwestern A after finishing the regular season at 6-12 overall and 3-7 in conference. The Yellowjackets are the sixth seed at 1-17 and 0-10.

Stevensville has not won since its 46-34 season-opening victory Dec. 9 against Valley Christian. The Yellowjackets have lost 17 straight, including a pair of lopsided losses to the Maroons. BC beat Stevi 59-23 Jan. 10 in Butte and 60-42 Jan. 31 in Stevensville.

Hamilton is the No. 4 seed, and the winner of the Saturday play-in game will open the divisional tournament at 8 p.m. against Bigfork on Thursday, March 5. Bigfork is the top seed from the Northwestern A.

The extra home game will give BC seniors Caden Tippett and Arika Stajcar one more game at the MAC after Tuesday’s Senior Night loss to Dillon.

Stajcar is usually joined in the starting lineup by sophomores Kenzie McQueary, Zayonna Otherbull and Braelynn Schelin and junior Rylee Forbes. Eighth graders Jordyn Samson and Luci Fantini are quickly off the bench along with junior Marly Mansanti and sophomore Evyn Smith. Eighth graders Mila Carriger and Blake Smith can also contribute for the Maroons, who will be playing without sophomore Jaedyn Maldonado.

Maldonado, who emerged as a true weapon off the bench for the Maroons, will miss the rest of the season with a fractured elbow. She joins a long list of Maroons to miss significant time with injuries this season.

Bulldog girls punch ticket

For the second straight year — and the second time this decade — Butte High’s girls’ basketball team will compete at the Class AA State tournament.

This year’s tournament will be held March 12-14 at MetraPark First Interstate Arena in Billings.

At 12-6 overall and 10-3 in conference heading into Friday’s season finale at Missoula Big Sky, Butte High will be the No. 2 seed from the Western AA. The Bulldogs will open the State tournament at 3:30 p.m. Thursday, March 12, against the No. 3 seed from the Eastern AA. (Bracket)

That comes a year after the Bulldogs played on Saturday night at the State tournament, placing fourth in Bozeman.

Coach Bryan Arntson’s girls punched their ticket Tuesday by rolling to a win at Missoula Sentinel while Big Sky beat Missoula Hellgate. At 16-2 and 13-0, Big Sky has long since secured the top seed.

Since the Class AA moved away from divisional tournaments, the top two teams automatically advance to the state tournament. The bottom two teams have no chance to play in the post season, and the middle four teams play in playoff games.

So, Friday’s game at Big Sky will be the last for the Bulldogs before a nearly two-week layoff.

When the Eagles and Bulldogs met Jan. 27 in Butte, Big Sky left town with a 61-53 victory. Kenzie Schmitz, a 6-foot sophomore, scored 26 points in the win. Senior Avory DeCoite tossed in 19.

The Graham sisters combined for 29 points to lead the Bulldogs. Junior Cadence Graham scored 15, while freshman Elli Graham came off the bench to score 14.

Cadence Graham is joined in the starting lineup by seniors Franki Salusso and Emma Johnson and juniors Allie Becker and Autumn Clary.

Saege Grey, a freshman, and Elli Graham are the first players off the bench along with junior Kendallyn Schad.

Sophomore Stella Callaghan and juniors Avery Barsness, Reese Johnson and Ellie Yates also contribute for the Bulldogs, who have won six of their last seven games.

Butte High will be making consecutive appearances at the state tournament since Jeff Arntson’s teams went to the dance eight straight seasons from 2006 through 2013.

Bulldog boys host playoff preview

When Missoula Big Sky comes to town to take on the Butte High boys’ basketball team at 7 p.m. Friday at the Ross J. Richardson Memorial Gymnasium, it will be the first of two meetings between the teams in less than a week.

Butte High is locked into the No. 3 seed in the Western AA, and Big Sky can do no better or worse than No. 6.

That means Butte High and Big Sky will play a playoff game at the Richardson Gym at 7 p.m. on Thursday, March 5. The winner of that game will go to the state tournament.

Butte High’s 71-65 win over Missoula Sentinel at the Richardson Gym snapped the Spartans’ 15-game winning streak. The game, though, had no effect on postseason seeding.

It did, however, feel pretty darn good for the Bulldogs to avenge a 41-point loss. If the Bulldogs play defense like they did Tuesday, they could make a serious run to Saturday at the State tournament.

They also got perhaps the most offensive balance of the season.

Brady Hanson, a 6-9 sophomore, matched his career high with 19 points. That marked just the third game this season that senior guard Hudson Luedtke did not lead the team in scoring.

Luedke scored in 16 points, and he is averaging 24.3 points per game. He is in a tight race with Sentinel star Lincoln Rogers for the Class AA scoring title. Luedtke also leads the Class AA in assists with 5.3 per game.

With his 16 points on Tuesday, Luedtke moved over 1,600 for his career. He now has 1,608 points. Bulldog great Lexie Nelson, who finished her career in 2010, holds the Butte school record with 1,696 points.

Former Butte Central star Dougie Peoples holds the Butte boys’ record with 1,683 points.

Seniors Rhett Arntson and Mitch Verlanic also scored in double digits. Arntson tossed in 13, and Verlanic netted 10. Both sank two 3-pointers.

Senior Cayde Stajcar scored nine points, while classmate Josh Liston and junior Raeder Grey each scored two.

Seniors James Pearston and Kendel Noctor also contributed to Butte High’s inspired defense.

Butte High beat Big Sky 62-54 when the teams met Jan. 27 in Missoula. Senior Cole Siberstein scored 14 points to lead the Eagles in that game. Freshman Jack McGowan added 10.

BC boys are No. 2 seed

Tuesday’s 49-46 home loss to Dillon put Butte Central’s boys’ basketball team in a three-way tie for first place in the Southwestern A at 8-2 with Dillon and Frenchtown.

Frenchtown gets the No. 1 seed in next week’s Western A Divisional in Hamilton thanks to the tiebreaker. BC is No. 2, and Dillon is the third seed.

That means the Maroons, who finished the regular season at 15-3, will play Browning in the first round of the divisional tournament at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 5. Click here for brackets for the boys’ and girls’ tournaments.

Central beat Browning 67-55 when the teams opened the season Dec. 12 at a tipoff tournament in Frenchtown. Browning finished the regular season at 11-7 overall and 8-4 in conference.

Junior guard Joshua Sutton will enter the postseason run with 972 career points.

We will take a closer look at the Western A Divisional tournament next week.