Havre 52, Polson 44
Cassi Darrah and the Blue Ponies won their way into Saturday with a dominating middle two quarters.
The 5-foot-10 senior shot 70 percent from the floor to finish with a team-leading 20 points. Jaclyn Evans added 13 points with the help of a 3-for-3 effort from 3-point range.
Havre fell behind 12-8 at the end of the first quarter, then outscored the Northwestern A runner-up Pirates 32-17 between the second and third quarters.
Polson controlled the boards with a 26-20 rebounding advantage. Pirates senior forward Nicole Davey was a force with 23 points and 14 rebounds.
Polson closed the campaign 14-8.
Loser out
Havre 8 19 13 12 – 52
Polson 12 8 9 15 – 44
HAVRE – Jaclyn Evans 3-7 4-8 13, Cassi Darrah 7-10 5-6 20, Chris Mck 1-1 1-1 3, Cali Freler 2-5 1-3 6, Paighton Gilman 3-7 0-0 6, Hayley Donoran 2-7 0-0 4. Totals 18-37 11-18 52.
POLSON – Kendyall Rochin 0-1 0-0 0, Mariah Hamel 2-4 0-0 4, Breanne Kelley 2-7 2-4 7, Riley Kenney 4-8 2-2 10, Kayla Duford 0-1 0-0 0, Nicole Davey 10-18 3-6 23, Veda Mathis 0-1 0-0 0, Heidi Rausch 0-1 0-1 0. Totals 18-41 7-13 44.
3-point goals – Havre 5-10 (Evans 3-3), Polson 1-9 (Kelley 1-5). Total fouls – Havre 13, Polson 16. Fouled out – none. Rebounds – Havre 20 (Donoran 7), Polson 26 (Davey 14). Turnovers – Havre 16, Polson 17.
Sidney 44 – Polson 40
Sullivan sank a pair of free throws with nine seconds left to lead the Eagles into the semifinals.
She finished with 15 points, nine rebounds and four steals.
“We’ve had close games most of the year and just kept our composure,” Sidney coach Jon Skinner said. “We made some free throws at the very end, obviously I would have liked to hit some of those early ones, to save me some sweat, though.”
The Eagles clanged the front end of three trips to the foul line in the final 1:30, shooting in the bonus.
With 24 seconds left, Sidney’s Kayla Lake hit 1 of 2 in the double bonus to make it 42-38, but Polson’s Riley Kenney scored on a put-back with 12 seconds remaining to make it 42-40 – the closest the Pirates had been since early in the second quarter.
Sullivan received the inbound pass and was fouled with 8.9 left, setting up her game-sealing free throws.
“You know, I really wasn’t nervous, just like my whole life, step up and hit them,” Sullivan said.
She scored nine of Sidney’s 11 points in the fourth quarter, where Polson stormed back after trailing 41-29 with just four minutes to go.
The Eagles had held Polson to just a bucket in the second quarter to take control of the game in the first half. The Pirates lone bucket came on a steal and drive from senior Nicole Davey with 40 seconds left in the half.
“You can’t just score two points in any period here and expect to be there in the end,” Polson coach Randy Kelley said. “But I’m proud of the girls for charging back.”
Junior Breanne Kelley tallied 13 points and sophomore Riley Kenney added 11 for Polson. Davey finished with 10 points and eight boards.
Junior Alex Hammer added eight points to compliment Sullivan, who said Sidney’s work is just getting started.
“It’s like, ‘Wow, we’re in the final four,’ ” she said. “But we didn’t come here to make it the final four, we came here to win it.”
Polson 11 2 12 15 – 40
Sidney 11 11 11 11 – 44
POLSON – Kendyall Rochin 0-1 0-0 0, Macall Banner 0-0 0-0 0, Mariah Hamel 1-4 1-2 3, Breanne Kelly 4-8 5-7 13, Riley Kenney 3-7 5-5 11, Kayla Duford 0-3 0-0 0, Nicole Davey 5-12 0-2 10, Heidi Rausch 0-1 3-4 3. Totals 13-36 14-20 40.
SIDNEY – Kodi Satra 1-2 1-2 3, Kayla Lake 0-1 1-3 1, Alex Hammer 3-3 2-4 8, Jordan Sullivan 6-12 3-3 15, Janae Moore 3-8 0-2 6, Megan Johnson 2-5 0-0 4, Whitney Thiel 3-4 0-0 7. Totals 18-35 7-14 44.
3-point goals – Polson 0-3, Sidney 1-5 (Thiel 1-1). Total fouls – Polson 15, Sidney 16. Fouled out – Johnson. Rebounds – Polson 24 (Davey 8), Sidney 24 (Sullivan 9). Turnovers – Polson 19, Sidney 16.
State A girls’ pairings
State A tournament
at Dale Berry Court, Hamilton
Thursday
Billings Central 64, Columbia Falls 52
Butte Central 49, Frenchtown 34
Sidney 44, Polson 40
Anaconda 56, Havre 30
Friday
12:30 p.m. – Columbia Falls (14-7) vs. Frenchtown (13-11), loser out
2 p.m. – Polson (14-7) vs. Havre (11-12), loser out
6:30 p.m. – Billings Central (16-6) vs. Butte Central (13-8), semifinal
8 p.m. – Sidney (19-2) vs. Anaconda (18-3), semifinal