Seeley-Swan High School Lady Blackhawks celebrate after winning the Western Divisional Championship game against West Yellowstone in overtime Saturday night, Feb. 29.
Junior Klaire Kovatch tied the game at 37 with this shot and drew a foul. She hit her free throw to put the Lady Blackhawks up one with 47 seconds left on the clock in overtime.
Senior Terra Bertsch goes over a defender for two points in the championship game.
Sophomore Sariah Maughan sends in a three pointer in over time to tie the game at 35.
FRENCHTOWN – The Lady Blackhawks won three tight games at the Western C Divisional to take the top spot and secure a place at the State C Tournament.
The Lady Blackhawks faced Philipsburg in the opening round. They had a great first quarter but by the half they were just three points up. The game was tied by the third quarter and the Lady Blackhawks managed to come out on top by the final buzzer, 31-28.
Terra Bertsch and Bethany Hoag led the Lady Blackhawks with 12 and 11 points respectively.
Lady Blackhawks: 6, 10, 4, 11 - 31
Philipsburg: 1, 13, 7, 7 - 28
In the semifinal, the Lady Blackhawks faced undefeated Charlo. Charlo was also responsible for one of the Lady Blackhawks' regular season losses, so they knew they had their work cut out.
The game proved to be a wild ride with both teams making big runs throughout the game starting with the Lady Blackhawks taking a 9-point run in the first quarter only to let Charlo come back with a 10-point run of their own.
By the half the Lady Blackhawks were back on top 23-19 but their lead would soon be erased as Charlo rallied again. The Lady Blackhawks answered back and were trailing by just two heading into the fourth quarter.
The Lady Blackhawks outscored Charlo in the final frame 14-7 sending Charlo into the consolation bracket with a 45-40 victory.
Klaire Kovatch led the Lady Blackhawks with 12 points followed by 9 from Bertsch and 8 from Emily Maughan. The Lady Blackhawks punished Charlo from the free throw line hitting 14 of 20 including a perfect 6 for 6 from Kovatch and 4 for 4 from Bertsch.
Lady Blackhawks: 9, 14, 8, 14 - 45
Charlo: 10, 9, 14, 7 - 40
A lot was riding on the line in the Championship game. Charlo was defeated in the consolation game so either the Lady Blackhawks or West Yellowstone would face a challenge game from Manhattan Christian.
Lady Blackhawks came out strong and had a small lead but a pair of three-pointers from West Yellowstone soon set the stage for a close game right down to the end.
After the first half the teams traded the lead back and fourth through much of the game with never more than a basket or two apart.
Near the end of the fourth they were tied at 32. West Yellowstone burned down the clock to less than 10 seconds and put the ball into the hands of Emmie Collins. Collins had already scored 12 points including 3, three-pointers. Collins fired and missed giving the Lady Blackhawks one last chance to end the game with just 8 seconds to get the ball down the court for a shot.
Aspen Conley received the inbound pass and sent it to Bertsch at mid court who managed to make it to the top of the key and fire off one final shot but it too bounced off the rim and the game went into overtime.
The clock was reset to four minutes and the teams headed back out for a jump ball. West Yellowstone gained possession and burned nearly a minute off the clock before putting up two points.
The Lady Blackhawks were unable to capitalize on their possession. By the time they got the ball back another minute had been burned and they were down three. Sariah Maughan answered back for the Lady Blackhawks with a three-pointer to tie it back up at 35-35.
The Lady Blackhawks fought hard to get the ball back and did so but were again trailing. Kovatch pulled down an offensive rebound and put it back up for two points to tie the game and managed to draw a foul from West Yellowstone in the process. Kovatch sank her free throw to put the Lady Blackhawks up one.
The Lady Blackhawks kept West Yellowstone at bay and regained control of the ball. They managed to burn the clock down to 16 seconds before West Yellowstone could foul Bertsch to stop the clock. Bertsch sank her first free throw and while her second one missed its mark, Sariah was able to get the rebound forcing West Yellowstone to turn to fouling to get the ball back again.
The Lady Blackhawks held off West Yellowstone with a final score of 39-37. While the Lady Blackhawks punched their ticket to state, West Yellowstone was challenged the following Monday and beaten by Manhattan Christian for the other spot from the Western Division.
Lady Blackhawks: 7, 2, 12, 11, 7 - 39
West Yellowstone: 2, 9, 12, 9, 5 - 37
Lady Blackhawks Head Coach David Cahoon was pleased with the team's performance and especially the victory over Charlo.
Cahoon said part of the beauty of the team is their depth being that they have arguably eight players that could all be starters. When one player is having an off game others step up and fill the void. Because of having such depth, opposing teams never know whom they need to try to contain.
The last time the Lady Blackhawks made it to State was off a second place showing at the Divisional in 2016. The last time the Lady Blackhawks won the Divisional Championship was in 2005 as a class B school.
At state, the Lady Blackhawks will face the second place team out of the Southern Division on March 12 at 5 p.m. at Dalberg Arena in Missoula.
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