It was a sad but exciting weekend for the Charlo girls and Two Eagle River boys basketball teams as they concluded their seasons in the Western C Divisional Tournament. With all Class C basketball teams in Lake County done for the season, let’s take a look at how they fared from Feb. 26 to Feb. 28 in Butte.

Charlo Girls 37, Lincoln Girls 34

It was a successful start on Feb. 26 for the Lady Vikings as they took down the Lincoln Lynx on the winner’s side of the Western C Divisional bracket.

Despite the win, the Lady Vikings started slow. It was Lincoln who outscored them 15-1 as Charlo looked like it might have to fight on the loser’s side of the bracket in this tournament.

However, the Charlo defense picked up and only allowed the Lynx to score five points in the second quarter. The Lady Vikings still trailed 20-7 going into the second half.

The Lady Vikings rallied in the third quarter by outscoring the Lynx 15-10. Heading into the fourth quarter, Charlo was going to need lockdown defense and excellent scoring to make this comeback happen.

Much like Charlo has done all year, they found a way by outscoring the Lynx 15-4 en route to the 37-34 win.

GG Hawk led the team in scoring with 15 points and Brielle Zempel followed that up with 14 points.

West Yellowstone Girls 54, Charlo Girls 23

The Lady Vikings struggled to keep their momentum on Feb. 27 when they fell to the West Yellowstone Wolverines.

The game started close with the Wolverines leading just 14-8. The Lady Vikings had a manageable gap against the 12C champions.

Charlo allowed the Wolverines to outscore them 13-2 in the second quarter.

The Lady Vikings never managed to find a rhythm going into the second half, either. West Yellowstone outscored them 27-13 as the Wolverines booked their ticket to the Western C championship.

Brooke Calhoon led the team in scoring with 11 points.

Manhattan Christian Girls 52, Charlo Girls 40

While the Lady Vikings were out of state title contention, they still had a chance to take a third-place finish against the Manhattan Christian Eagles.

Charlo trailed to start this one as well but only 12-8 after the first quarter. The Lady Vikings rallied 13-10 in the second quarter as well, heading into halftime only down 22-21. 

The third quarter was tied 8-8 for scoring between both teams, making this a one-point game heading into the fourth quarter.

With both teams’ seasons coming to a close, only one could lock up third place in Western C.

For the Lady Vikings, they came up just short. The Eagles dominated the fourth quarter with 22 points. Even though Charlo scored their second-best quarter of the game, it was never enough to stop the scoring output of Manhattan Christian. Charlo fell 52-40 to close out their season.

Brielle Zempel led the Lady Vikings in scoring with 15 points for the final game of her high school basketball career.

Zempel, Abbigail Wagner and Madison Harris finished their Charlo basketball careers, tallying over 1,000 points for the school combined.

West Yellowstone Boys 76, Two Eagle River Boys 71

Two Eagle River started their tournament on Feb. 26 with a competitive loss to the West Yellowstone Wolverines.

The high-flying, high-scoring Eagles started this game playing at their pace. A 23-22 lead was an exciting sign as the Eagles looked for a winner’s bracket win.

The Eagles outscored the Wolverines in the second quarter too, leading 40-37 heading into the second half. Despite that, West Yellowstone rebounded and took the 45-44 lead. 

The Eagles needed to find that scoring spark that guided them in the first quarter. They couldn’t, as the Wolverines outscored them 21-17, taking the 76-71 win.

Ryiley Gates scored 23 points to lead the Eagles in scoring.

Two Eagle River Boys 79, Superior Boys 74

On the loser’s side, the Eagles were looking for the season sweep in another rematch with the Superior Bobcats on Feb. 27.

This was one of the premier district rivalries with Superior coming up just short against Two Eagle River in the 14C district tournament. And, much like the last couple of games between the two, the game started closely. It was tied up 13-13 in the first quarter.

However, Two Eagle River exploded offensively by outscoring the Bobcats 27-18 in the second quarter. That large lead carried into the third quarter when the Eagles led 25-14.

Two Eagle River held a 65-45 lead going into the fourth quarter but the Bobcats were not looking to go down easily. A massive 29-point quarter from Superior almost put the Eagles on ice.

However, Two Eagle River held on to a slim 79-75 win to move on to the third-place game.

Gates again led the team in scoring with 29 points.

St. Regis Boys 68, Two Eagle River Boys 59

In the final game of the season, Two Eagle River faced off against the best in 14C on Feb. 28 in the third-place game against St. Regis.

For the Eagles, the scoring touch that had carried them this far had slowed down. They were outscored 36-23 in the first half. The Tigers have shown they can face up well against the Eagles all year and they did just that early.

St. Regis kept its lead in the third quarter before the Eagles tried to make a valiant comeback. Two Eagle River scored 21 points in the fourth to try and push themselves to a third-place regional finish. Despite that, the Tigers held on and won out 68-59.

The Eagles closed their season with Gates leading the team in scoring for the third game in a row with 28 points.

This team graduates Gates, Talon Addison, Thomas Addison and Jayvian Burke. All four of those players combined for 1,000 points in scoring this season alone.

    Two Eagle River senior Ryiley Gates drives into the paint against Superior on Feb. 6 at Two Eagle River School. (Max Dupras/Leader)