Class AA State Basketball Glacier girls beat Billings Senior, 52-33
BUTTE — After a lackluster start to the Class AA state girls basketball tournament the day before, the Glacier Wolfpack more than made up for it on Friday, beating Billings Senior in loser-out play 52-33 at the Butte Civic Center.
Glacier will face Helena Capital at 10:30 a.m. today in the second round of loser-out action. The winner advances to the third-place game.
Glacier coach Bill Sullivan was hesitant to say that the Wolfpack were playing angry, especially after getting bounced 41-20 by Billings West on Thursday.
“It was different,” he said.
“Today we came out and just talked about being themselves and we got off to a great start in the first quarter.”
The first quarter was was an offensive explosion. Glacier scored 18 points in the opening frame, 20 in the second and and led 43-23 after three.
“Start of the game was great and to have another big quarter was great as well,” Sullivan said.
Kali Gulick broke out and scored 14 points, leading the Wolfpack’s balanced scoring attack. A total of eight Glacier players made it on the scoresheet, including Ellie Keller, who netted 13 points.
Raley Shirey grabbed nine boards and added eight points. Aubrie Rademacher and Emma Anderson each scored six.
“Kali had great game offensively,” Sullivan said. “Nice to see her do that. Our scoring was balanced and everyone was getting the ball where it needed to be. A lot of transition buckets.”
For Billings Senior, Ellie Ostermiller scored eight points.
Glacier has a chance to redeem itself and make it to the third place game
“We’re gonna take what we get and come out and battle for a win and try as hard as we can to get in the third and fourth place game,” Sullivan said.
Billings West takes on Helena High at 8:30 p.m. in the championship final. Helena pulled off a comeback to beat Capital 38-28 in semifinals on Friday after trailing 15-7 at halftime and scoring no points in the second quarter.
Glacier 18 5 20 9 – 52
Billings Senior 4 12 7 10 – 33
GLACIER – Kali Gulick 14, Ellie Keller 13, Raley Shirey 8, Aubrie Rademacher 6, Emma Anderson 6, Kenzie Williams 3, Kaylee Fritz 1, Allee Meyer 1.
BILLINGS SENIOR – Ellie Ostermiller 8, Bri McCauley 7, Brenna Linse 5, Lily Johnson 4, Olivia LaBeau 3, Bailey King 2, Jensen Keller 2, Cass Venner 2.
Class AA State Basketball
Girls
Final
8:30 p.m. – Billings West vs. Helena High
Loser Out
10:30 a.m. – Glacier vs. Helena Capital
10:30 a.m. – Hellgate vs. Great Falls High (at Butte High School)
Boys
Final
6:30 p.m. – Bozeman vs. Missoula Hellgate
Loser Out
9 a.m. – Helena vs. Great Falls High
9 a.m. – Billings West vs. Missoula Sentinel (Butte High School)