Kats top Laurel in consolation game

Haley Belgrade scored 20 points for Columbia Falls on Saturday night, as the Wildkats slipped past the Laurel Locomotives with a 54-52 overtime victory at the Four Seasons Arena in Great Falls.

The win sent the Kats home with the third-place trophy from the Class A State girls basketball tournament.

Winter Kemppainen added 12 points in the consolation-game victory.

Abie Lohoff scored 17 points to lead Laurel. Allie McGrath tossed in 13.

The Kats, who had been ranked No. 1, beat the Belgrade Panthers by 70-29 on Thursday, March 13, to open the state Class A girls tournament.

The Kats lost to the Hamilton Broncs by 44-39 on Friday in the semifinal game. They were down by as many as 18 points in the first half but managed to crawl back to within one point twice in the fourth quarter.