As the winter sports season comes to an end, this means that the biggest tournament for AA basketball is here. The state tournament has all the best teams from around the state to come and compete for the top spot.
While the boys team didn’t have to play in a playoff game to make it to state, the girls team had to play sentinel to make it to state. Before going into the game the team already had a record against the Spartans of 2-0. The game was on Wednesday, March 4th and kicked off at 6:00 pm.
Hellgate quickly took the lead and was able to get their rhythm quickly. Sophomore Alexandria Miller said, “We have a lot of great players, but I think we are best when we play unified and we saw that a lot against Sentinel.”
It was clear from the beginning who would end up on top as almost every basket the spartans made the knights would make two. Once the made came to a close with a score of 60 – 37 for the Knights. This meant that the girls would get to go to state as a fourth seed from the western division.
Now the girls have to prepare for state on March 12 and 13. They are going against Billings West who they lost to at the beginning of the season by 15 points in the very first round. This doesn’t dim their spirits for state. “Our team has really changed a lot since we played them in December. We are a different team now,” said Miller.
Miller has played varsity for two years and the team got fifth place out of eight last year at the 2024-2025 state tournament. Although that is a good place to finish, Miller believes they can do better. “I think there is a good chance we can do better, even if we lose to Billings West in the first round,” said Miller. “The connection and care we have for each other, like everyone wants to win, but I think we want to win not only for ourselves, but for each other.”
The girls have high hopes for this year and it is clear they can make it far in the state tournament if they play as a team. But for now all they can do is practice and work on the things that they need to improve.
