Roy-Winifred takes Northern C girls' title over DGSG
For the third straight season, the Roy-Winifred girls’ basketball team in Northern C champions.
The Outlaws held off District 8C rival Denton-Geyser-Stanford-Geraldine 46-38 Saturday in the divisional title game at Four Seasons Arena behind a strong defensive start, leading wire-to-wire.
“It was good, we played the best out of our three games today, I think,” senior post Isabelle Heggem said. “We finally came out ready in the beginning. Our defense in the beginning was pretty good and we’re familiar with (DGSG), it’s kind of fun and competitive the whole time.”
Despite turning it over 22 times in the contest, Roy-Winifred (20-3) had 21 takeaways of its own while holding the Bearcats to 28 percent shooting and just 3 for 22 from beyond the arc.
Senior guard Laynee Elness led all scorers with 18 points on top of eight rebounds, five assists and four steals, while the 6-foot-4 Heggem 16 points and nine boards.
DGSG (21-4) clawed back late to within six as Tycee McVicker hit a shot from downtown before an offensive rebound led to a 3-ball by eighth-grader Emma Smith with 90 seconds to play.
However, the Outlaws didn’t allow another field goal for the remainder and Elness and Hannah Ewen combined 4 for 6 at the free throw line to close out the win.
Roy-Winifred earns the No. 1 seed out of the North heading into the Class C state tourney at Four Season on March 6-9. The Bearcats are forced to take on Big Sandy on Monday at 6 p.m. in challenge game at Four Seasons, with the winner advancing to state. Big Sandy defeated Chester-Joplin-Inverness 46-45 in the third-place matchup.
The Outlaws, coached by Marietta Boyce, were state co-champions in the COVID-shortened 2020 tourney and outright champs in 2022. Roy-Winifred has now made the state tourney six years in a row and seven of the last eight years. The squad took fourth last season and third in 2021.
“Such a good group of kids,” Heggem said. “We’re a really experienced team, so we’re going to be ready to go back to the state tournament again. We need to just focus on our defense. Because when we focus on our defense the offense seems to come together, too. Just controlling the boards, that’s one of our biggest goals in the game.”
Roy-Winifred by 12 at the half behind a strong defensive second quarter in which it held the Bearcats to just one field goal.
The Outlaws held DGSG to just 4-for-20 shooting from the field in the opening 16 minutes, including 0 for 12 from beyond the 3-point line.
Leading 11-8 heading into the second stanza, Elness kicked things off with an arcing 3-pointer from the top of the key before Heggem extended the advantage beyond double-digits on a pair of scores in the low post.
Dakota Crabtree closed out the half with a make from deep to send Roy-Winifred into the locker room with a 23-11 lead.
The Outlaws led by as many as 15 in the third three times as Crabtree and Elness nailed 3-pointers and Heggem scored in the low post. The Bearcats managed to trim it 12 heading into the fourth on baskets from Ella Edwards and Maddie Skelton before BriElle Becker beat the buzzer on a floater heading into the decisive period.
The freshman Becker paced DGSG with 11 points and 10 rebounds for a double-double along with six steals, while McVicker added 11 points and Emma Smith eight.
Photos provided courtesy of Matt Ehnes of Jared's Detours.
DGSG 8 3 14 13 – 38
RW 11 12 14 9 – 46
DGSG – BriElla Becker 11, Ella Smith 4, Maddie Skelton 2, Emma Smith 8, Tycee McVicker 11, Reese Von Bergen 2.
RW – Laynee Elness 18, Lyla Ewen 6, Hannah Ewen 3, Isabelle Heggem 16, Dakota Crabtree 3.
3-pointers – Emma Smith, McVicker 2; Elness 3, L. Ewen, Crabtree.
This article originally appeared on Great Falls Tribune: Roy-Winifred girls down DGSG, take Northern C for third straight year
