DILLON — With their season on the line, the Butte Central girls’ basketball team left little doubt.
The Maroons outscored Frenchtown 19-4 in the first quarter, and Central coasted to a 54-32 victory over the Broncs in a loser-out game this morning at the Southwestern A District tournament inside Montana Western’s Straugh Gymnasium.
The win means the Maroons will play for third place and head to Hamilton next week for the Western A Divisional tournament.
Along the way, BC junior Brooke Badovinac passed the great Kellie Johnson-Mead on the team’s single-season scoring list.
Badovinac scored a game-high 21 points, one more than senior Sofee Thatcher, to lead BC to the win. A bucket in the third quarter passed Johnson, who still owns the school’s all-time scoring record with 1,530 points.
Heading into today’s 3:30 p.m. third-place game, Badovinac has 489 points through 21 games. In 1996, Johnson, affectionately known as “K.J.,” scored 485 points in 21 games. She also scored 447 in 1995.
Johnson was inducted into the Butte Sports Hall of Fame in 2015.
The only high school girl in Butte to score more points in a single season than Badovinac is the great Lexi Nelson, who tossed in 574 points in 24 games in 2010.
This weekend, Badovinac also passed Butte High’s Debbie Silk (444 in 1981), Nelson (447 in 2009) and Deanna Dugdale (459 in 1982). Silk and Dugdale are part of the Butte Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2022.
Mollie Peoples (427 in 2017), Kloie Thatcher (417 in 2018) and Quinn (Peoples) Carter (401 in 2011) are the only other BC girls in the 400-point club.
Thatcher scored nine points in the first quarter to help Butte Central (13-8) take control. The Maroons led 31-12 at halftime.
Ella Moodry added six points in the win that saw Brenna Foley toss in five and fellow senior Payton Hartwick net two. Mollie Drew and Maycee Anderson also competed for the Maroons in the season-saving victory.
Sophomore Sadie Smith scored 11 points to lead the Broncs, who close the season at 10-9. Three of those losses came at the hands of the Maroons.
Senior Demi Smith scored six, while Carah Evans tossed in five, and Alexis Godin, Heather Haskins and Taylor Haskins each scored three.
Stevensville beat Corvallis 45-29 in the other loser-out game, which was played at the B.W. Lodge Gymnasium. That is where the Yellowjackets will meet the Maroons.
FRENCHTOWN (10-9) — Alexis Godin 1 0-0 3, Cassidy Bagnell 0 1-2 1, Carah Evans 2 0-0 5, Demi Smith 3 0-0 6, Sadie Smith 5 1-2 11, Tanli Croy 0 0-0 0, Alaina Shannon 0 0-0 0, Heather Haskins 1 0-0 3, Katherine Deschamps 0 0-0 0, Toni Beatty 0 0-0 0, Laura Magnuson 0 0-0 0. Totals 13 2-4 32.
BUTTE CENTRAL (13-8) — Brenna Foley 2 1-2 5, Payton Hartwick 1 0-0 2, Sofee Thatcher 7 6-0 20, Brooke Badovinac 7 7-9 21, Ella Moodry 3 0-0 6, Mollie Drew 0 0-0 0, Maycee Anderson 0 0-0 0. Totals 20 14-21 54.
Frenchtown 4 8 11 9 — 32
Butte Central 19 12 11 12 — 54
3-point goals — Frenchtown 4 (Godin, Evans, H. Haskins, T. Haskins), BC 0. Fouls — Frenchtown 18, BC 11. Fouled out — Bagnell.
