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STATE HOOPS: Great Falls Drops Flathead in Opening Round

By Beacon Staff

Updated at 9:45 p.m.

Great Falls dropped Flathead 58-36 in tonight’s nightcap of the first round of the Class AA girls state basketball tournament in Great Falls.

The Bravettes, playing at state for the first time since 2008, will face Billings Senior in loser-out action tomorrow at 1:30 p.m. Great Falls plays Helena Capital in the semifinals at 8 p.m.

Bigfork Climbs Back to Beat Choteau

Bigfork defeated Choteau 61-53 in the first round of the Class B boys state basketball tournament in Butte on Thursday night. The Vikings advance to tomorrow’s semifinal against the defending champions, Malta, at 5 p.m.

Bigfork overcame a strong start by Choteau and a two-point deficit at halftime.

The Vikings are rolling along after another impressive run through the regular season that included a No. 1 ranking in Class B at one time.

Florence defeated Columbus 56-45 earlier today and will face Wolf Point in the semifinals. Wolf Point beat Whitehall 53-46. Malta defeated Forsyth 75-44.

Columbia Falls’ Rally Falls Short

Laurel survived a spirited comeback attempt by Columbia Falls and held on to win 59-50 in today’s opening round of the Class A boys state basketball tournament in Billings.

The Wildcats drop to loser-out play tomorrow at 12:30 p.m. against Browning. Stevensville edged Browning 65-64 and advances to Friday’s semifinals against Laurel. Billings Central plays Frenchtown tonight at 6:30 p.m. and Belgrade takes on Butte Central.

Columbia Falls trailed 40-25 after three quarters but cut Laurel’s lead to six with under a minute remaining.

Glacier Girls Fall in First Round

Glacier’s second-half rally came up short as the Wolfpack girls lost to Butte 47-40 in the opening round of the Class AA girls state basketball tournament in Great Falls.

Glacier drops to loser-out action tomorrow at noon against Billings West. Missoula Sentinel beat West 39-33 and will face Butte in Friday’s semifinals.

Wolfpack Advance to State Semifinals

Reid Siderius scored 18 points, Ryan Edwards chipped in 11 and the Glacier boys rolled past Butte 75-39 in Thursday’s opening round of the Class AA state basketball tournament in Great Falls.

Glacier (18-3) advanced to Friday’s semifinals against a familiar foe, Western AA rival Missoula Hellgate (18-4). The Knights edged defending champ Billings West 60-59 on Thursday morning with two free throws in the final seconds by Tres Tinkle, the state’s leading scorer. Tinkle finished with 25 points.

Glacier and Hellgate square off at 3:30 p.m. on Friday. This will be the third matchup this season between the two teams, but this time it’s for a bid to the state championship game. Hellgate defeated Glacier 53-32 in Missoula on Jan. 31, but the Wolfpack trounced the Knights 69-37 on Feb. 22.

Matt Peters had 10 points against Butte and Logan Iverson and Evan Epperly each scored eight. Kyle Griffith had six points and James Cutler and Bryan Micheals each had four.

On the other side of the state tourney bracket, Helena Capital defeated Great Falls 61-53. Billings Skyview is currently taking on Missoula Big Sky.

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