Powder River Examiner -

For the first time in Broadus school history, both the boys and girls basketball teams won district tournament titles in the same season. Both boys and girls teams won their way straight through the tournament – the boys winning two games due to their first round bye, and the girls three games. On Friday the Broadus teams had a combined four buzzer beater shots, and with championship wins on Saturday, the weekend proved to be a great time for Broadus basketball fans and players alike.

Mia Mader had two buzzer beats shots against Terry on Friday, with 25 points total in the game. The second round win assured the Lady Hawks a spot in the Southern C Divisional Tournament, next week in Miles City.

Girls

Earlier this season, Broadus Head Girls Coach Kristie Lanke told us she thought this was the closest she's seen the 4C teams when it came to the level of competition – the teams were close in their level of play, and many had beaten up on each other.

When the regular season ended, Jordan held the #1 seed, but in Jordan's first game in Miles City, #4 seed Wibaux upset Jordan, sending the Lady Mustangs into the loser's bracket. On Saturday, #5 seed Ekalaka beat Jordan in the consolation game to send the #1 ranked team home.

Meanwhile, the Lady Hawks started out their tournament by beating #6 ranked Plevna.

Staying true to form from what Lanke had told us last week about it being difficult to beat a good team three times in a row, Broadus took out #2 ranked Terry, and following a loss to Ekalaka, Terry went home as well.

The upsets meant that Broadus, seeded #3 going into the tournament, would face Wibaux in the championship game, and both would move on to the Southern C, February 28 through March 2nd in Miles City. Broadus led the majority of the game against Wibaux, and sealed the door on a conference championship with a 43-40 win.

Meanwhile #5 ranked Ekalaka will also advance, while the first and second ranked teams return home. The conference truly was a close matchup, and goes to show that tournaments are a new season, with anyone having a chance to win if they get hot at the right time.

Looking back at the Lady Hawks games, Broadus maintained a steady lead against Plevna in the first round, scoring 20 in the first quarter and double digit points throughout, while holding Plevna to single digits in all but one quarter. Broadus won agasint Plevna 58-31. The Lady Hawks led in all defensive and offensive categories save 3 pointers, as Plevna knocked down 4 compared to Broadus' 3.

Mia Mader had a great game against Plevna with 22 points, in a preview of what Mader would bring to the court in the next game against Terry.

On Friday against Terry, the Lady Hawks came out hot, scoring 15 points in the first quarter and limiting the tenacious Terriers to 5.

Broadus found themselves in foul trouble early, with Zeason Schaffer and Maddie Zimmer needing to spend extra time watching from the bench as the coaches kept them from accruing more fouls early in the game.

Shaylee Bilbrey came in off the bench and did a great job defending the post position, while Mia Mader had the night of her season, knocking down 4 three point shots (two of which were buzzer beaters at the end of quarters), and putting up 25 points in total. Emma Isaacs knocked down another buzzer beater to put the Lady Hawks further into the lead, as Broadus kept a lead that hovered around 10 points through much of the second half, and the Lady Hawks held Terry's players to no more than 9 points each. The Lady Hawks won 44-31.

On Saturday in the championship Broadus once again came out firing on all cylinders, with an early three pointer from Emma Isaacs to set the tone. Broadus pulled away several times in the game to lead by ten or more points but the Lady Longhorns kept applying pressure, as each team "won" two quarters, alternating throughout the game. In the end the difference would come down to Broadus leading in points off turnovers (17 to 14) and the Lady Hawks' superior free throw percentage. The Lady Hawks sunk 62% of their chances to score 10 of 16. Wibaux only scored on 36% of their chances, sinking 8 of 22. The difference at the end of the game was 3 points in Broadus' favor. "The girls never panicked when the game got tight, and that's what was so important," Coach Kristie Lanke said of the championship win.

The Lady Hawks now look towards the Southern C, where they will play the winner of the Harlowton/Ryegate and Bridger game. The #3 teams from 2 of the 3 conferences have a modified "play in" game, with the conferences rotating by year – currently the 5C and 6C teams are in the rotation. The loser of that game will still play again, in the double elimination tournament.

The Lady Hawks will play their first game on Thursday, February 29th, hoping to use the extra day this leap year to leap over their competition.

Two teams from the Southern C will advance to state, March 6-9 in Great Falls.

Senior Hawk Matt Hansen foils Plevna's defense by crossing under the basket to score on the reverse layup.

Boys

For the fourth year in a row the Hawks are the 4C District Champs – a feat which Activities Director Mike Richards told us has only been accomplished a handful of times by any time, and the first by Broadus.

The Hawks had some first half jitters against Plevna on Friday, as some bad passes led to turnovers in the first half, while Broadus only came down with 28% of defensive rebounds in the second quarter, as Plevna went on a hot streak to pull within one.

Just as the buzzer sounded at halftime, Josh Rasmussen knocked down a three pointer from well beyond the three point line. Rasmussen's hot hand from beyond the arc, along with a defensive adjustment in the third quarter that limited Plevna to seven points while Broadus knocked down 18, led to a more comfortable second half for the Hawks. Broadus won the game 59-45 to send themselves to the championship game and on to the divisional tourney.

Rasmussen's 50% shooting from three point land helped lead to his 21 point night, the first time a Hawk has scored over 20 all season.

Going into the championship against Jordan, Broadus knew they would be in for a tough game – in their two previous meetings this season the games went into overtime, with Jordan pulling out both wins.

This time around Broadus came out hot, up 16-6 at one point in the first quarter. Coach Dustin Lanke told us he knew it was a matter of time before Jordan got hot, and they kept chipping away at the Hawk's lead as the game progressed.

The game featured only 42 field goal attempts for Broadus, much lower than their 52 attempt average and the lowest since they played Melstone and Lustre Christian earlier in the year. As time drug on, by the fourth quarter it looked like Jordan might pull off another win, with Jordan leading by a point. With 3.5 seconds on the clock, Jaxon Bilbrey was fouled and went to the free throw line.

On the season, Bilbrey averaged 61% from the free throw line, meaning his trip to the line was not a sure thing to prevent an overtime or close loss.

Jaxon lined up, and his first shot was up and good, sinking the shot as easily as if he were practicing in his backyard.

Fans watched with bated breath as Bilbrey prepared for his next shot. The young man bounced the ball three times, took a breath, and put up his shot.

As the basketball sailed cleanly through the net, the crowd erupted in cheers.

The Mustangs then inbounded the ball and tried a long shot that was no good, and Broadus won their second 4C championship in a row against Jordan, and fourth in four years.

Cooper Zimmer led the Hawks with 11, in a balanced scoring night that had Landen Capp and Eli Heacock both with 9 and Jaxon Bilbrey with 7.

Lanke commented "Jaxon made his shots when it counted."

The Hawks only had six chances at free throws on the night, sinking 4 of those shots.

Broadus will look to face the winner of the Custer/Hysham and Absarokee game, the 5C and 6C #3 teams, respectively. Broadus will play the winner at 1:30 on Thursday, February 29th.

Before that tournament begins, Lanke has his team in practice, working on taking care of the ball and improving their rebounding proficiency.

Maddie Zimmer scores against Terry. The Lady Hawks went on to win the District 4C Tournament title, beating Wibaux in the championship.