Friday’s Regional Briefs: Americans win 7th straight
UGF teams to face tough opponents
Exhibition contests are on tap Saturday for both the University of Great Falls men’s and women’s basketball teams.
In Billings, the Lady Argos (9-2 overall, 0-2 in Frontier Conference) visit Montana State-Billings at 5 p.m. The men of head coach Anthony Owens, who are on a weeklong road trip against Division I opponents, are in Seattle to take on Seattle University.
The MSUB women’s team is 3-6 overall this season. Tiana Hanson and Rylee Kane scored in double figures, at 16.4 and 10.2 points, respectively. Taylor Edwards, the former standout at C.M. Russell High, is averaged 9.8 markers per contest and shooting 92 percent from the free throw line.
Bill Himmelberg’s squad, meanwhile, has dropped its last two games, to Lewis-Clark State and Montana Tech, to begin the conference season. Veteran guard Stephanie McDonagh’s 15.5 ppg leads the squad, and forward Nneka Nnadi chips in 12.5.
The UGF men fell to Eastern Washington on Thursday night, 103-76, in another exhibition for head coach Anthony Owens’ team. Sergio Berkley, Matt Brooks-McGregor, Davone Oliver Jr. and Isaac Howard, who did not play in the loss, are all averaging double figures in the team’s nine official contests.
At 7 in Seattle, the Argos (7-2, 1-1) will have to contend with a 3-5 Seattle team that features three players scoring over 12 ppg, including leading scorer Brendan Westendorf at 15.4 a night.
UM squads hit the road
Payback is on the mind of the University of Montana men’s basketball team on Saturday.
That’s when the Grizzlies of head coach Travis DeCuire, riding a two-game winning streak, get a rematch with Wyoming.
Wyoming came into Dahlberg Arena earlier this season and left with a 73-72 victory. Saturday’s tipoff is scheduled for 4 in the afternoon.
It marks the beginning of a difficult road trip for the Grizzlies, who travel to nationally ranked Oregon on Dec. 13 and UC Riverside on Dec. 17. They are back in Missoula for a home contest against Pepperdine on Dec. 22.
Ahmaad Rorie, a transfer from the Oregon Ducks, is the team’s leading scorer through nine games at 14.4 per contest. UM is 3-6 overall.
The Lady Griz, coached by first-year mentor Shannon Schweyen, have had to maneuver around several devastating injuries this season. They are at Stephen F. Austin (Texas) on Saturday afternoon for a 4 p.m. start time. UM is 2-5 so far this season.
Taylor Goligoski, the former two-time Montana Gatorade Player of the Year out of Hamilton, puts up 12.3 a night.
Americans win 7th straight
HELENA – The Great Falls Americans won their seventh straight game Friday night, a 3-1 decision over the Helena Bighorns.
Sandis Mezharaups, Malachi Bushey and Jens Juliussen all scored once as the Americans improve to 16-3-1-2. Great Falls net minder Nick Nast stopped 26 of 27 shots.
Both teams return to Great Falls and the Great Falls IcePlex for a rematch Saturday night at 7:30.
Bobcats look to stop skid
A game after scoring a career-high 42 points, splendid sophomore Tyler Hall managed just 12 in a 74-57 loss to South Dakota earlier this week.
The Rock Island, Ill., native will need to score more than that, plus receive some help from his teammates, to have a chance Saturday when the 5-5 Montana State Bobcats travel on the road for a tilt against Nebraska-Omaha. Tipoff is at 6 p.m.
Hall is averaging 24.8 points per contest in his second season in Bozeman. He’s shooting nearly 47 percent from the field, wields a 43 percent clip from distance and nearly 87 percent from the line.
Zach Green and Harald Frey are averaging 12.4 and 10.1 points per game, respectively. Those two combined for just 13 points, though, in Wednesday’s loss. The Bobcats of head coach Brian Fish have stumbled in three straight. Omaha, 4-5 on the season, beat the Iowa Hawkeyes of the Big Ten Conference last week.
GFH, CMR swimmers head to Havre
The Great Falls High and C.M. Russell High swimming teams are in Havre Saturday for the Havre Invitational.
Head coach Ed McNamee saw a promising first meet in Kalispell last week, where both Rustler squads finished second, the GFH boys third and the girls eighth.
McNamee said it’s been a productive week of practice.
“We cleaned a lot of technique things up this week,” McNamee said. “I was happy with their effort. We are staring to gel a lot sooner than seasons in the past. This group is coming together quickly so it’s a lot of fun to be around. I like the personality of our squad right now.”
CMR’s Olivia Bauman and Andrew Spragg, as well as GFH’s Brandon Hanlon and Isabelle Earl, among others, had impressive opening weeks and will look to continue their success come Saturday, a day McNamee said is important for some of his younger swimmers to gain experience. The meet begins at noon.
Bison sparkle, Rustlers struggle at Mining City Duals
BUTTE – It was a tale to two different teams for the Great Falls Class AA schools at the Mining City Duals Friday.
Great Falls High finished 3-0 on Day 1 of the Duals, taking out Missoula Big Sky 40-25 and Class A schools Dillon 55-9 and Ronan 59-13. The Rustlers dropped all three duals, falling to Kalispell Flathead, Billings Skyview and Class A Frenchtown.
The Bison had three grapplers finish undefeated in Jordan Komac, Rylan Moldenhauer, and Travis Tomei, with the latter two winning all by pin. Komac and Chase Short both took out a defending state champions in the dual with Dillon, topping Brent Tezak and Patrick Griffin, respectively. The Bison advanced to the winner’s bracket on Saturday.
Jensen Poirier picked up a pair of wins, both by fall.
The Rustlers got three wins from Kai Stewart at 138 pounds, and a pair of wins from heavyweight KC Buday. Head coach Aaron Jensen, while happy with his team’s effort, said not being at 100 percent against a pair of high-powered schools like Flathead and Skyview hurt their chances.
Defending tourney champion Havre also advanced to the winner’s bracket after winning its pool. Full results were not available late Friday night.