Zach Urness

Leader Staff

It was a bittersweet farewell for the Charlo Lady Vikings and their four incredible seniors, who brought themselves to the brink of a state championship, only to watch as foul trouble and some clutch free-throw shooting from Circle put the dream just out of reach, as Charlo fell 29-27.

“I thought we played really well,” said head coach Bret Thompson. “It’s very disappointing to get that close, it’s very disappointing for the girls.”

Charlo had a tough road just to get to the title game, beating No.1 seed Scobey on Thursday and then taking down previously undefeated Highwood in the semi-finals.

The championship game was a match-up of the two teams considered the best in the state all season, both supported by massive crowds who packed the hollow and dank confines at the Butte Civic Center.

With two teams so evenly matched, it seemed almost inevitable that the victor would be the team who could execute down the stretch. And, after a first half that looked like two heavyweight boxers circling each other without throwing any big punches, the game came down to the fourth quarter.

Hayley Carr, who had been limited because of foul trouble, looked to take over to start the fourth. Taking the ball from the top, she drove through the lane and hit Shianne Montgomery for a jump-shot and followed that up with a jump-shot of her own to give Charlo a one-point lead. With the score tied at 20, Carr dished to Ma’Rya Hungerford who hit a trey to give Charlo a 23-20 lead midway through the fourth.

But the story of the game, other then the lack of scoring, was that Charlo continually found themselves battling foul trouble, ending the game with 22 fouls compared to nine for Circle. The foul trouble began to wear on the Lady Vikes as seniors Carr and Sammons fouled out.

The teams continued to duel back-and-forth until the score was tied at 25 with :48 seconds to play. The game turned after Circle’s Alli Rolandson was fouled twice and, despite her team going 14-of-23 from the line, proceeded to sink all four fouls shots. The Lady Vikings had some decent looks at the basket, but nothing went down until it was too late, and Charlo was forced to swallow a bitter 29-27 loss, the lowest scoring title game in class C championship history.

“We had to make some adjustments (because of the fouls) but I made the choice to keep the best players on the floor in the fourth. Unfortunately we couldn’t keep them out there,” commented Thompson. “We had some scoring chances, but we were unable to capitalize.”

Ma’Rya Hungerford led the team with nine points and Sammijo Kain and Amanda Murphy both chipped in five points. Stevie-Leigh Sammons and Hayley Carr had two for the game.

The semi-final match-up pitted the Lady Vikings against a Highwood team that was, at the time, undefeated. Charlo was crisp on offense in the early going, quickly moving the ball through the trapping Mountaineer zone for easy looks at the basket and 52 percent shooting from the field in the first half. Hungerford, who led the team with 11 points, hit her second trey of first half at the buzzer to give Charlo a 24-12 advantage.

But Highwood was a far too talented team to fade into the dimly lit shadows of the Butte Civic Center. As Charlo looked to waste time with their spread offense, the Mountaineers went on an 11-4 run that turned a once-large lead into a slim 39-37 advantage with 1:10 left to play.

The nerves began to show as time, and their lead, slowly disappeared. The Lady Vikings shot only 6-of-14 from the charity stripe in the fourth quarter, and with 23 seconds to play, Highwood’s Rachel Semansky hit a lay-up and was fouled in the process. But she missed the free-throw that would have tied the game and Charlo held on for a dramatic 40-39 point victory.

“It’s an emotional feeling,” said Hayley Carr after the big win that catapulted Charlo into the title game. “You’re coming down with the nerves and everything that is going on around you. But you can’t think about ‘what if’s’ — you gotta think about what you came here to do.”

Carr put the most ink on the stat page for Charlo, totaling seven points, eight rebounds, five assists and three blocked shots. Stevie-Leigh Sammons was perfect from the field and finished with eight points. Stephanie Murphy and Samijo Kain had six points each but Murphy earned her stripes on defense, holding Rachel Semansky, an inside power, to only seven points. Shianne Montgomery added two points.

Charlo also beat Scobey in the first round 32-22. The Lady Vikings out-worked Scobey on defense, causing 12 turnovers and holding them to 12 points in the first half en route to a 32-22 win. Ma’Rya Hungerford’s quickness was the catalyst in running the offense, dribbling all over the Scobey zone, as well as scoring nine points. Stevie-Leigh Sammons also scored nine points and was followed by Shianne Montgomery and Hayley Carr who had five. Amanda Murphy added four.

Despite coming up just short of the state title, the Lady Vikings can look back on an incredible season that ended with a 26-2 overall record, a conference title, a district tournament title, a second place finish at the divisional tournament and finally, a second place finish at state.

“This team had to go through a lot,” said Thompson. “The high expectations, the setbacks at divisional, personal injuries — they could have taken time off but they didn’t. They put so much time into it. They could have said ‘forget it’, but they never did. They always focused and worked hard.”

Thompson also acknowledged the large contingent of Charlo citizens who traveled to Butte to support the team.

“We’d like to thank community for the support,” he said. “It was great having that kind of a following screaming for you at every game.”

The Lady Vikings will lose seniors Hayley Carr, Amanda Murphy, Ma’Rya Hungerford and Stevie-Leigh Sammons.

“They’ll be a very tough group to follow,” said Thompson.