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They Did It! - Lady Spartans Making First Trip To State C Tourney Since 2020

Lady Spartans Making First Trip To State C Tourney Since 2020
SCOBEY FRESHMAN MCKENNA NIESKENS (right) looks for a clear path around the tight defense of North Country’s Kennedy Simonson during Friday’s championship game at the East C Divisional Tournament in Sidney. The Lady Spartans departed Scobey at 6 a.m. Tuesday and were scheduled to face the West Yellowstone Wolverines at 6 p.m. on Wednesday. — Leader Photo, mike
Lady Spartans Making First Trip To State C Tourney Since 2020
SCOBEY FRESHMAN MCKENNA NIESKENS (right) looks for a clear path around the tight defense of North Country’s Kennedy Simonson during Friday’s championship game at the East C Divisional Tournament in Sidney. The Lady Spartans departed Scobey at 6 a.m. Tuesday and were scheduled to face the West Yellowstone Wolverines at 6 p.m. on Wednesday. — Leader Photo, mike
 

They Did It!

It became official at 5:17 p.m. on Saturday, March 8, in the Sidney High School gymnasium when the Scobey Spartans girls’ basketball program had once again qualified for the State C Tournament.

The last time at the big show for the local ladies was 2020 in Missoula when health concerns shut down all eight state tourneys late Friday night, with all 16 finalists being named State co-champions.

Five seasons later the Spartans (18-7, 1222-751, 48.8-30.4) are looking to shut down the West Yellowstone Wolverines (146, 880-646, 44.0-32.3), the reigning West Division champion, in a first-round contest scheduled to tip-off at 6 p.m. Wednesday, March 12, in the Butte Civic Center (Radio: KCGM 95.7 FM). The scenario came to be after the hot-shooting Scobey squad defeated the Bainville Bulldogs 55-45 in a late Saturday afternoon challenge game (see State C preview on page 8).

The Spartans earned their way to Butte America with one of their hottestshooting game’s of the entire season and it occurred at just the right time when it counted the most when facing the Bulldogs. Scobey hit 13-23 (.565) field goals in the first half and 7-15 (.467) in the second half against Bainville for a superb 20of-38 showing. When added together it is a smokin’ hot 52.6%! From 3-point range the Scobey girls were 4-7 in the first half and 4-10 in the second half to finish at 8-17, which is a very good 47%. The Spartans were also a nifty 7-of-9 from the freethrow line for 77%.

The game was still tight early in the second quarter when Scobey was ahead 1814 but Avery Wolfe changed the whole complexion of the contest. After Kaytie Aanstad scored down low at the 4:28 mark making it 2014, Wolfe blasted off from 3-point range. She hit from the left wing, knocked down another with 3:14 left and yet another 42 seconds later for a huge 29-15 advantage. Claire Lekvold caught the 3-point fever as well, dropping one in with 17 seconds until intermission, where the Spartans led 32-20.

To open the third-quarter scoring, Aanstad turned a couple of offensive rebounds into four points for a 16-point lead. Fifty-seven seconds later Wolfe drilled her fourth and final trey at the 5:45 mark, creating Scobey’s largest lead at 39-22.

To their credit, the Bulldogs did make a very strong run ...

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