HAMILTON — Butte Central’s girls’ basketball team has one more chance to qualify for the Class A State tournament.
The Maroons fell in a 44-42 thriller to Columbia Falls this morning at the Hamilton Middle School. BC will now play Stevensville in the fifth-place game at 5 p.m. in the same gym.
The top five teams from the Western A Divisional tournament advance to the March 9-12 Class A State tournament in Missoula.
Columbia Falls (16-5), which entered the tournament as the top seed from the Northwestern A, will play Browning for third place at 5 p.m.
For much of the morning game, it looked like the Wildkats would run away with the game. The Maroons, though, battled back to take the lead in a back-and-fourth.
Central had the ball last, and the Maroons got off a 3-pointer at the buzzer. The shot, though, fell short.
Grace Gedlaman scored 15 points to lead three Wildkats in double figures in the win. Maddie Robison and Hope McAtee each scored 12.
Junior Brooke Badovinac scored 20 points to lead the Maroons. With 557 points, Badovinac is within striking distance of Lexie Nelson’s Butte girls’ record of 574 points in a season.
Sofee Thatcher scored nine points for the Maroons. Ella Moodry tossed in six, Payton Hartwick netted four, and Brenna Foley scored three.
Mollie Drew and Maycee Anderson also contributed for the Maroons, who take a 15-10 record in the fifth-place game.
BUTTE CENTRAL (15-10) — Brenna Foley 1 1-2 3, Payton Hartwick 2 0-0 4, Brooke Badovinac 7 2-5 20, Ella Moodry 3 0-0 6, Sofee Thatcher 2 5-6 9, Mollie Drew 0 0-0 0, Maycee Anderson 0 0-0 0. Totals 15 8-13 42.
COLUMBIA FALLS (16-5) — Maddie Robison 5 0-0 12, Alexis Green 1 0-0 2, Grace Gedlaman 3 6-9 12, Madeline Stutsman 0 0-0 0, Hope McAtee 3 6-9 12, Abbie Darson 1 0-0 3, Lexi Oberholter 0 0-0 0, Scout Medhus 0 0-0 0. Totals 13 15-21 44.
Butte Central 8 12 15 7 — 42
Columbia Falls 14 12 9 9 — 44
3-point goals — BC 4 (Badovinac 4), CF 3 (Robison 2, Darson). Fouls — BC 16, CF 17. Fouled out — Moodry, Robison.
