BILLINGS — The Glacier girls pulled out their first state basketball tournament victory in school history, locking down Great Falls High in the final two minutes of play to win 47-46 in the first round of Class AA play on Thursday morning.

With 38 seconds remaining, Glacier senior post Cassi Hashley fought through a triple team, gathered her dribble and laid in a bucket on the opposite side of the rim to give Glacier its first lead in nearly seven minutes in what turned out to be the game-winning basket. The Wolfpack had trailed by six points with two minutes to play.

“I got the ball, took some deep breaths and said: ‘No, we’re not going to lose this game,’” Hashley said. “I just went for it. I didn’t know what was going to happen. It fell. I guess it was just meant to be.”

Hashley scored a game-high 28 points to go with 10 rebounds, keying her team’s offense throughout the contest. The Wolfpack outscored Great Falls 9-2 in the final two minutes of play.

The teams were close in the early going, and were within a shot of each other entering the final minute of each quarter.

Down 44-38 after the Bison hit a pair of free throws, Glacier tightened up on defense. Sophomore guard Hailee Bennett hit a pair of free throws to cut the lead to four.

Ali Williams then stole the ball at midcourt for Glacier. After a short timeout, the Wolfpack found Katie Thomas open on the wing for a 3-pointer that cut the Bison lead to 44-43.

The teams traded free throws before Hashley’s winning bucket in the final minute.

Those free throws were the only points for Great Falls in the final two minutes of play as Glacier held the Bison without a field goal for the final 5:27.

Glacier’s defense also came up big down the stretch with junior forward Katie Wiley forcing a steal on Great Falls’ penultimate possession. A slew of Wolfpack players boxed out a second chance attempt after the Bison’s final shot went awry, allowing Bennett to come down with the final rebound.

“I told them if you really lock down and be intense and play good, hard defense, then our offense will come,” Glacier coach Kris Salonen said.

“It was going to be a good ending for one team and not so good for the other. Both teams fought hard.”

Taylor Kumm had 11 points and Lizzy Klinker 10 for the Bison.

Glacier will play Missoula Sentinel at 3:30 p.m. today in the semifinals. Sentinel beat Bozeman in the first round, 54-47.

Great Falls High faces Bozeman in loser-out action at 9 a.m.

Class AA state girls

basketball tournament

At Billings

Thursday

First-round games

Glacier 47, Great Falls 46

Glacier 6 13 14 14 — 47

Great Falls 8 14 8 16 — 46

Glacier (16-6) — Taylor Salonen 1-1 0-0 3, Hailee Bennett 1-6 4-5 6, Taylor Loomis 0-2 0-0 0, Hannah Atlee 1-2 0-0 2, Cassi Hashley 11-13 6-6 28, Katie Thomas 1-3 0-0 3, Katie Wiley 1-3 0-0 3, Tessa Krueger 0-0 2-2 2, Ali Williams 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 16-31 12-13 47. 3-point goals: 3-9 (Salonen 1, Thomas 1, Wiley 1). Fouls: 12. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 23 (Hashley 9). Assists: 11 (Salonen 4). Blocks: 0. Steals: 17 (Hashley 5). Turnovers: 27.

Great Falls (18-4) — LIzzy Klinker 3-7 4-5 10, Brooke Dart 0-0 0-0 0, Gabby Fought 0-0 0-0 0, Nora Klick 1-4 1-2 4, Mercedes Bourgeau 3-6 1-3 8, Mikaela Kynett 0-1 1-2 1, Markaela Francis 2-8 2-2 6, Taylor Kumm 4-9 0-0 11, Natalie Klinker 2-7 2-2 6. Totals: 15-42 11-16 46. 3-point goals: 5-13 (Kumm 3, Klick 1, Bourgeau 1). Fouls: 15. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 20 (Francis 5, N. Klinker 5). Assists: 9 (Kumm 3). Blocks: 3 (Klick 2). Steals: 17 (Bourgeau 5). Turnovers: 24.

Missoula Sentinel 54, Bozeman 47

Sentinel 9 15 10 20 — 54

Bozeman 12 11 13 11 — 47

Missoula Sentinel (20-1) — Haley Rogers 0-0 2-3 2, Maddie Keast 4-15 4-6 13, Jess Henning 0-1 0-0 0, Lexi Steele 2-6 4-8 9, Shannon Worster 0-3 0-0 0, Olivia Roberts 6-12 11-14 23, Sam Harper 3-8 1-1 7, Emily Beach 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 15-45 22-34 54. 3-point goals: 2-12 (Keast 1, Steele 1). Fouls: 14. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 37 (Roberts 11). Assists: 8 (Keast 3, Roberts 3). Blocks: 6 (Harper 5). Steals: 6 (Harper 2, Beach 2). Turnovers: 7.

Bozeman (10-12) — Melanie Johnson 0-4 3-5 3, Riana Rogers 0-1 2-2 2, Jacey Delaney 3-10 0-0 8, Averie Collins 3-11 2-2 10, Caitlin Lonergan 6-10 5-7 17, Alyssa Nagel 0-1 0-0 0, Ellie Hawthorne 0-2 0-0 0, Josie D’Agostino 0-0 0-0 0, Emerald Toth 3-7 0-0 7. Totals: 15-46 12-16 47. 3-point goals: 5-19 (Delaney 2, Collins 2, Toth 1). Fouls: 24. Fouled out: Johnson, Lonergan. Rebounds: 33 (Collins 10). Assists: 12 (Delaney 4, Collins 4). Blocks: 4 (Toth 2). Steals: 4 (Collins 2). Turnovers: 10.

Helena Capital 57, Great Falls 41

Capital 12 13 15 17 — 57

Great Falls 7 7 13 14 — 41

Helena Capital (20-1) — Kyle Nickol 5-12 0-0 13, Casey Ebelt -2 0-0 0, Keegan Syvrud 0-0 1-2 1, Keeley Larson 0-2 0-0 0, Kyle Harrington 1-4 2-3 5, Sean Mulcahy 1-4 3-4 5, Hunter Beto 4-10 3-5 12, Carson Dummer 8-11 5-5 21, Sam Bryggman 0-5 0-0 0. Totals: 19-50 14-19 57. 3-point goals: 5-18 (Nickol 3, Harrington 1, Beto 1). Fouls: 10. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 34 (Dummer 7). Assists: 13 (Nickol 4, Harrington 4). Blocks: 6 (Dummer 6). Steals: 7 (Nickol 4). Turnovers: 7.

Great Falls (12-10) — Lukas Vining 5-11 0-0 11, Bryce Clark 1-5 0-0 2, Lester Johnson 0-1 2-2 2, Kody Torgerson 0-1 0-00, Brad Goodell 0-0 0-0 0, Matt Wyman 4-10 2-3 10, Jake Banach 0-0 0-0 0, Brendan Howard 2-9 3-4 7, Jake Wetzel 3-5 0-0 9, Keaton Burcham 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 15-43 7-9 41. 3-point goals: 4 (Wetzel 3, Vining 1). Fouls: 17. Fouled out: Johnson. Rebounds: 26 (Howard 6). Assists: 4 (Wyman 2, Banach 2). Blocks: 3 (Vining 3). Steals: 3 (Clark 1, Howard 1, Wetzel 1). Turnovers: 10.

Billings West 43,

Missoula Big Sky 23

West 10 15 14 4 — 43

Big Sky 4 9 1 9 — 23

Billings West (18-3) — Delaney Clement 0-3 0-0 0, Paige Vinger 2-4 0-1 4, Steph Boehm 3-8 0-0 8, Jessi Zurhoff 2-5 1-1 6, Makenzie Shellnutt 0-0 0-0 0, Cody Rogers 1-3 1-2 3, Haylea Elkin 0-0 0-0 0, Mika Robinson 4-10 3-8 12, Kendyl Boltz 0-0 0-0 0, Erin Schreibeis 4-6 2-2 10. Totals: 16-39 5-8 43. 3-point goals: 6-20 (Robinson 3-8, Boehm 2-6, Zurhoff 1-2, Clement 0-1, Vinger 0-1, Rogers 0-2). Fouls: 12. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 30 (Schreibeis 6, Rogers 6). Assists: 13 (Robinson 5). Blocks: 1 (Schreibeis). Steals: 7 (Schreibeis 3). Turnovers: 9.

Missoula Big Sky (11-11) — McKenna Arledge 1-5 0-0 3, Dani Baker 1-4 2-2 4, Kendall Mooney 1-1 1-1 3, Sidney Davis 1-3 0-0 2, Emily Hooker 0-0 0-0 0, Kendra Joyce 0-4 1-2 1, Maddy Shaide 1-7 0-0 2, Kenzie Hanson 1-4 0-0 3, Anna Gragg 1-4 3-5 5. Totals: 7-32 7-12 23. 3-point goals: 2-15 (Hanson 1-2, Arledge 1-4, Baker 0-2, Shaide 0-3, Joyce 0-4). Fouls: 10. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 20 (Baker 4, Joyce 4). Assists: 3 (three with 1). Blocks: 4 (Davis 3). Steals: 7 (seven with 1). Turnovers: 9.