Lady Panthers lose Eastern title to Circle; to face Belt in opening round

The Saco-Whitewater-Hinsdale (SWH) Lady Panthers will face the three time State C champion Belt Huskies, at 8 p.m. tomorrow night at the 2015 State C Girls' Basketball Tournament in Missoula.

The team will enter the tourney as the east's second seed after falling 49-48 to the Circle Wildcats in the championship round of the Eastern C Divisional Tournament in Wolf Point last Saturday.

The team earned a spot in the championship game after blasting through Brockton 71-30 in the opening round and defeating Fairview 53-33 in the semi-finals.

It is the team's second straight state appearance.

"I'm just really proud of (our team)," Kourtney Simonson said. "I'm just looking forward to this last week of my basketball season. It's really weird to think it's my last one."

Simonson is one of five seniors on the Panthers squad and all are hoping to get their hands on the state title. Simonson knows how the team can improve going into state. They need to be themselves.

"I think we just need to keep doing what we are doing and play our game and not let any other team take us out of our game and I think we will succeed in our goals," Simonson said.

Ideally the matchup between SWH and Belt would make for a good championship game, however to be the best, you eventually have to beat the best.

"I think we match up with Belt really well. They are familiar to us," Lady Panther head coach Amber Erickson told the PCN.

If SWH defeats Belt then it could be Deja Vu for the Panthers who defeated Belt in the opening round of the 2011 State C Tourney, on their way to a state championship.

The team is hoping history will repeat itself.

"We are the last Class C team in the state tournament to have beat them," Coach Erickson.

Coach Erickson noted that the team will have to win the battle of the boards and take full advantage of every possession with patient ball handling.

"We need to play every possession like it's our last possession and we need to defend," Coach Erickson said.

Belt is fresh off a 57-34 Northern C championship win against Cascade last weekend.

Belt has been impressive, posting a 20-3 season thus far.

The winner will likely see Southern C's first seed Park City Panthers, who are 18-4 this year, though the Panthers are focused solely on their first opponent.

In the opening round of the tournament, The Lady Panthers smashed Brockton 71-30.

"We really got our transition game going. We had a high shooting percentage but there were a lot of layups," Coach Erickson said.

The team used their up-tempo defense to suffocate the Brockton's offense.

SWH was led by Tatum Moore who scored 29 points in the win.

Kourtney Simonson had 18 points, Larimie Scheffelmear had seven points and nine rebounds. Keira Simonson had four points. Jada Sudbrack had three points. Casey Howard, Bailey Funk, Mickayla Johnson and Casity Boucher each had two points a piece.

The team was 47 percent from the field, sinking 31 of 65 shot attempts.

Free throw shooting was a bit rough, with the team only making 6 of 21 shots, roughly 28 percent.

The team's defense was as flawless as it has been all year, allowing only eight points in the first quarter, eight in the second quarter, nine in the