Ben Haley goes for the ball while playing Valley Christian during the 13-C finals in Hamilton last weekend.
Above, Emily Maughan takes her shot on Saturday, against the Lone Peak Bighorns during the 2023 Western C Divisional Girls Basketball Tournament in Butte. On Thursday, Feb. 23, the Lady Blackhawks lost to Ennis 50-63 at the 2 p.m. game. On Friday, the Lady Blackhawks came back to beat Charlo 54-46. On Saturday morning, the Lady Blackhawks lost to Lone Peak, 32-51. See next week's Pathfinder for a season wrap-up of the Lady Blackhawks.
Connor Matthew shooting the ball during the match against Victor.
Klayton Kovatch in the match against Drummond
Last weekend the Blackhawks boy's basketball season came to an end after losing 38-43 against the Drummond Trojans in game two of the District 13-C finals. But despite not making it all the way to Divisional Playoffs, the team is ending the 2023 season with heads held high.
"We had a lot of injuries and setbacks," said Mike Haines, Head Coach for the team. "I thought we did pretty well for facing quite a bit of adversity. So that was kind of a pretty good takeaway for the season."
Two of their potential star players spent most of the season out-of-play, one missing the entire season for a football injury. The Blackhawks made do with a limited roster and lack of experienced players besides.
"Yeah, we have a lot of young guys, you know, I really only had like three guys that had considerable varsity experience," Haines said. "So, I mean, we're pretty young, inexperienced in big games."
Despite those handicaps, they pulled out some surprise victories, a considerable winning streak, and even bested a team from a higher division.
"We were feeling pretty good about ourselves going into the tournament, I think, myself and my team," Haines said. "We expected to be in the championship game and trying to punch our ticket to divisionals."
Unfortunately no amount of good coaching or training can overcome the elements of chance that exist in sports. While the Blackhawks' hard fought season came to a close in Hamilton, Haines enjoyed the time he had with this year's senior players and looks forward to seeing what the team can accomplish next year.
"It's always bittersweet when you lose your seniors," Haines said. "They played for you for years and some of those kids just you know, poured their heart and soul into things. It's pretty tough losing those but then we got a good core of young kids coming back."
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