Swarming defense and persistence on the offensive glass helped the Deer Lodge girls to a 51-33 win over Eureka in the Western B divisional basketball championship game Friday at Flathead High School.

Deer Lodge’s full-court press gave Eureka (15-8) fits, particularly in the first half when it had more turnovers (17) than points (16), but multiple missed layups by Deer Lodge kept the Lady Lions in the game.

Deer Lodge (22-1) led 20-16 at halftime before opening the third quarter with a 6-0 run. Michele Christnacht made two 3-pointers later in the quarter to extend Deer Lodge’s lead to 12 before Eureka’s Alyssa White answered with a 3-pointer.

Deer Lodge outscored Eureka 16-7 in the fourth quarter. Christnacht hit a 3 less than a minute into the period and Dani Walker scored four points in the frame.

Despite shooting 37 percent from the floor, Deer Lodge had multiple second and third-chance opportunities thanks to 18 offensive rebounds.

“We gave them way too many offensive rebounds,” Eureka coach R.J. McDole said.

Christnacht finished with a game-high 16 points with 10 coming in the second half. Walker and Bailee Senecal also reached double-figures for Deer Lodge with 11 and 10 points, respectively.

“They’re great shooters and we left them open a few times,” McDole said. “Christnacht made us pay.”

White led Eureka with 10 points and Cassidy Morgan finished with seven points and nine rebounds.

Walker and Senecal each pulled down 10 rebounds for Deer Lodge, which outrebounded Eureka 36-26.

Deer Lodge advances to the Class B state tournament while Eureka has to play Florence in a second-place challenge game today at 4 p.m. The winner will advance to state.

Eureka511107—33

Deer Lodge10101516—51

EUREKA - Alyssa White 3-10 2-4 10, Cassidy Morgan 2-5 3-4 7, Alex Holland 2-9 1-2 6, Carli Allen 2-5 2-2 6, Caitlin Larson 1-4 2-2 4, Brianna Lindgren 0-3 0-0 0, Whitney Williams 0-1 0-0 0, Evynn Anderson 0-2 0-0 0, Amanda Peterson 0-0 0-0 0, Ashlen Pacella 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 10-39 10-14 33.

DEER LODGE - Michele Christnacht 5-9 1-2 16, Dani Walker 5-11 1-2 11, Bailee Senecal 4-8 2-4 10, Lacie Thomas 2-5 1-2 5, Shayla Therriault 2-11 1-2 5, Natalie Padovich 0-2 2-2 2, Annie Lombardi 0-1 2-2 2, Jaicee Senecal 0-0 0-0 0, Hunter Therriault 0-0 0-0 0, Kadeshia Clark 0-2 0-1 0, Kelsie Gray 0-0 0-0 0, Courtney Goff 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 18-49 10-17 51.

3-point goals - Eureka 3-15 (White 2, Holland), Deer Lodge 5-8 (Christnacht 5). Rebounds - Eureka 26 (Morgan 9), Deer Lodge 36 (Walker 10, Bailee Senecal 10). Assists - Eureka none, Deer Lodge 5 (Padovich 2). Blocks - Eureka 1 (Morgan), Deer Lodge 1 (Walker). Steals - Eureka 9 (Morgan 3), Deer Lodge 12 (Thomas 4). Turnovers - Eureka 25, Deer Lodge 17. Total fouls - Eureka 16, Deer Lodge 16. Technical fouls - none. Fouled out - Morgan.