Stillwater Christian girls take 3rd at state
Daily Inter Lake | Daily Inter-Lake | UPDATED 2 months, 3 weeks AGO
Every game went down to the final stretch and Stillwater Christian’s girls won three of them to claim third place at the Montana Christian Athletic Association state basketball tournament that concluded Saturday in Great Falls.
The Cougars beat Yellowstone Christian 45-38, fell to Helena Christian 49-39 in the semifinals and then edged Foothills Community Christian of Great Falls 49-47 to make the third-place game.
There, they beat the Flathead Valley Crusaders 38-33.
“It was a defensive battle from start to finish, but the girls got it done,” Cougars coach Andy Harrel said of the win over the Crusaders. “It was a well-rounded team effort and several girls stepped up in big ways at key moments. Jasper Bailey led us in scoring with 12 points, while also playing lockdown defense for 31 minutes.
“In big games, leaders step up, and that’s exactly what Katherine Paolini did.”
Paolini had nine points, 18 rebounds (12 offensive) and three steals while playing all 32 minutes for SCS, which got a big 3-pointer late from Rileigh Miller, “that took the remaining fight out of FVHS,” Harrel said.
Paolini, a senior, and Bailey, a sophomore, were both named all-tournament; senior Katelyn Mangold was singled out for Christian Character.
Bailey added 12 points and Emma Zeider 11 for the Cougars; Raina Pond snared 10 rebounds in the win.
Helena Christian beat Great Falls Home School 49-45 in the girls championship game.
Tehlor Mathiason led FVHS with 13 points and Emilia Opheim checked in with 10. Both players made the all-Tournament team.
In the win over Foothills, SCS made up a 24-13 halftime deficit behind 12 points from Paolini, 11 from Bailey and 10 from Zeider. Virginia Hudson had eight rebounds.
Pond and Paolini had 11 points each in the semifinal loss to HCS; the Cougars managed just 14 second-half points against the Rams. Pond snared 14 boards.
In the opening win over YCS, Paolini and Miller had 10 points each and Paolini added seven boards and three assists.
MCAA Third-Place
Stillwater Chr. 10 8 7 13 - 38
Flathead Valley 4 12 10 7 - 33
STILLWATER CHRISTIAN — Katherine Paolini 9, Elliott Miller 1, Riliegh Miller 5, Jasper Bailey 12, Emma Zeider 11.
FLATHEAD VALLEY SCHOOL — Emilia Opheim 10, Tehlor Mathiason 13, Jaylin Mitchell 1, Katelyn Burlingame 9.