Hawks’ Hoops Brings Home the Hardware
By Danny Waldo
It’s a cliché that all coaches subscribe to; it doesn’t matter what happens in the regular season, as long as you are playing your best when the postseason rolls around.
That thinking worked out well for both the Bozeman Hawk basketball programs, as both the boys and girls brought home hardware from the recently completed State AA basketball tournament held in Billings recently
The Lady Hawks placed third, while the Hawk boys brought home the runner-up trophy for the third straight year.
Boys
After watching their season fall into a tailspin over the last month of the season, the Bozeman Hawk boys righted the ship just in time for the postseason by earning a runner-up finish at the first-ever Class AA divisional tournament in Butte back on March 1-3 before replicating the performance at the Class AA state tournament in Billings March 8-10.
That’s the good news. The bad news for head coach Wes Holmquist’s crew is this is the third consecutive year the Hawks have failed to finish the deal, falling in the state championship yet again, this time to an experienced Great Falls-CMR team, 81-69. Bozeman lost in the state championship last season to Kalispell-Glacier, 46-42, after falling to Billings Skyview the previous year 72-56.
“I just feel for the kids, man,” Bozeman head coach Wes Holmquist said. “Unfortunately, I’ve been through this a little bit in the past few years. It’s hard to see them kind of get their dreams snatched away from them.”
Bozeman opened the AA tournament with a convincing 65-40 victory over Helena High, before surviving a tough semi-final victory over the hometown Billings Senior Broncs 66-62, setting up the fourth matchup with the Rustlers in the final. Bozeman and CMR met twice in the regular season, and again the AA divisional final, with similar results.
“I thought we played as hard as we could,” Holmquist added. “Obviously, CMR’s a better team than we are this year.”
Bozeman finished the season 15-9.
Girls
While disappointment hung on the faces of the Bozeman boys after falling in the state title game, jubilation was the pervasive emotion around the Bozeman girls after a thrilling 34-32 victory in the Class AA consolation final over Helena Capital, giving Bozeman the third place trophy.
After struggling with consistency all winter, head coach Erika Gustavsen’s squad played their best basketball over the two weeks of postseason play, earning a fourth place finish at divisionals to clinch a trip to Billings, and improving on that performance by securing a top-three finish at state the following week.
“I don’t know how, it’s kind of a blur right now, but they definitely did it,” Bozeman head coach Erika Gustavsen said. “Just super proud of these kids.”
Bozeman fell in the opening round to Missoula Sentinel 55-37 before winning three straight, including knocking off a Billings Senior team (63-53) that had defeated them handily both times in the regular season.
Bozeman entered the state tournament as the No. 4 seed out of the Eastern Conference, but they were the last team from the east standing with the dust cleared, with a third-place trophy in hand.
“We are a tenacious team. I think that’s all I can say,” senior Alex Carey said. “We know that we’ve had to work hard all season and all season Gus has been telling us, ‘It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.’”
The Lady Hawks finished 13-13 on the year.
Danny Waldo is a local freelance writer covering Bozeman High and Montana State athletics. He enjoys late nights watching reruns of college basketball and reading World War II novels.
