BUTTE, Mont. — The Western C title games took place in Butte on Saturday night, with one dynasty continuing on the boys side and a new champion emerging on the girls side.
In the first championship game of the day, the Drummond Trojans remained undefeated, taking down the West Yellowstone Wolverines, 61-51.
It was a rematch of a Western C semifinal from a year ago that West Yellowstone won 37-30. The Wolverines ended up winning the tournament.
Remington Cline led the way for Drummond with 22 points, while Kimber Parsons added 19.
“Man it’s amazing. We started talking about it last year, what these girls had the potential of doing. They just started believing,” said Drummond head coach Levi Parsons.
Complete stats were unavailable for this game.
It’s the Trojans first Western C title since 2013, which was also the last time they made the State Tournament.
Drummond will be the top seed out of the west for the Class C State Tournament in Missoula.
West Yellowstone will play Shields Valley in a challenge game at 4:30 p.m. on Monday at the Maroon Activity Center in Butte, with the final spot at State out of the west on the line.
In the boys game, the Manhattan Christian dynasty added another chapter, with the Eagles earning their eighth straight Western C crown via a 51-39 victory over West Yellowstone.
“They’ve handled adversity well. We started the season 0-3 and played some tough teams right off the bat. We lost to a good West (Yellowstone) team in the middle of the season. I thought they took it well,” said Manhattan Christian head coach Layne Glaus. “They had humility and they are coachable. For us, Jesus is our example. And they come in and understand that and they are willing to learn and serve each other. And as the year has gone along, I think that has helped us grow closer together. And we’re playing our best basketball at this time of the year because of it.”
Andrew Kimm led the way for the Eagles with 14 points and 13 rebounds. Zach Venema added 11 points and 9 rebounds, while Beau Venhuizen added 10 points.
Austin Hales paced West Yellowstone with 12 points, three assists and two steals. Noah Flores added 10 points, 3 rebounds, and 3 steals.
The Eagles will be the top seed from the west at the Class C State Tournament. The second seed will go to either West Yellowstone or St. Regis. The Wolverines and Tigers will face off in a challenge game on Monday at 6 p.m. in Butte.