BILLINGS — The Montana boys and girls all-star basketball teams are halfway home to their goal of sweeping their Wyoming counterparts. 

Now, both teams are shooting to close with victories on Saturday night at the Lockwood High School gymnasium and sweep the 2025 Midland Roundtable Montana-Wyoming All-Star Basketball Series. 

The Treasure State girls opened with a victory and the Big Sky Country boys won the nightcap for a Montana sweep on Friday at James Hladky Arena at the Pronghorn Center on the campus of Gillette (Wyoming) College.

In the first game, the Montana girls continued their run of dominance with their 16th-straight win in the series, 91-80.

In the finale Friday, the Montana boys got back on the winning side of the rivalry after Wyoming scored its first sweep since 2011 in 2024 with a 102-90 victory over the Cowboy State. 

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On Saturday at the Lockwood High School gym, the girls tip-off at 5 p.m. and the boys will follow at approximately 7 p.m.

Montana boys 102, Wyoming 90

Helena’s Tevin Wetzel pumped in 21 points and six other Montana players scored in double digits in the Treasure State’s 102-90 victory.

With the win, Montana bounced back from last year when the Cowboy State scissored Montana’s 22-game winning streak en route to earning the sweep.

Montana now leads the overall boys series, 68-29. 

Montana girls 91, Wyoming 80

It was a tale of two halves and in the end, the Treasure State girls extended their winning streak in the Midland Roundtable Montana-Wyoming All-Star Basketball Series to 16 games.

Wyoming may have held a one-point lead at intermission, but a strong second half led to the Montana girls continuing their winning ways with a 91-80 victory.

Montana was led in the scoring column by Miles City’s Alli Glasscock with 23 points and 21 from Huntley Project’s Paige Lofing.

Montana coach Wes Keller, now in his 10th year in the position, said his team buckled down in the second half and took care of the ball better. He also said Montana played better team defense after leading 47-46 after the first 20 minutes of play. In the all-star series, quarters are 10 minutes.

“I thought Wyoming came out and really got after us and was really physical with us,” Keller told The Billings Gazette and 406 MT Sports in a phone interview after the game. “I think it took us about two quarters to kind of adjust to that. I don’t know if we set a record for the Montana-Wyoming series with turnovers, but if we didn’t we were dang close. I didn’t see a total, but I bet you we had 20 in the first half.”

“We challenged them at halftime a little bit to have some pride, step up and play some defense and we chart stops and there were two times in the second half that we got five stops in a row and obviously that helped increase our lead.”

Every Montana player scored. Kenleigh Graham of Dillon pumped in 12 points and Rae Smart of Billings Skyview added eight points. Dani Jordan of Lockwood and Braeden Gunlock of Bigfork each scored seven points.

Lofing, the Montana Gatorade Player of the Year who will be playing basketball at Gonzaga, had three 3-pointers for Montana. With the win in the first game of the two-game set, Montana now leads the overall series 42-13.

For Wyoming, all 10 of their players also scored. Jaden Meyer of Douglas led Wyoming with 18 points. Lauren Olsen of Douglas chipped in 17 points and Elyn Bowers, the Wyoming Gatorade Player of the Year from Pinedale, netted 15 points.

The game was knotted at 24-24 after a quarter of play and Wyoming led by one at intermission, 47-46. However, Montana led 66-62 after three quarters and pulled away in the final stanza.

“It was a good win for us,” said Keller. “They have a couple of guards that are pretty explosive and quick. In the first half our transition D was not good, and we gave up a bunch of easy ones. We just didn’t communicate. We talk a lot about in these all-star games everybody can score. But are you going to sit down in a stance and play good team defense and get stops? And I thought we did that in the second half.”

Keller said that his team will enjoy the win Friday, but quickly turn the page to focus on achieving the sweep on Saturday night.

“That was great that we got the win tonight, but we’ve got to be ready to go tomorrow and we’ve got to come out with energy and enthusiasm and start right from the tip getting after it and taking care of the ball and defending it,” he said.

Keller said each of the Montana players played a role in extending the winning streak over Wyoming to 16 games.

“I was proud that everybody that played contributed in a positive way,” he said. “Everybody that stepped on the court tonight did something good that helped us secure the win.”

Girls

Montana 91, Wyoming 80

Montana 24 22 20 25 — 91

Wyoming 24 23 15 18 — 80

Montana: Paige Lofing 21, Tailey Harris 2, Dani Jordan 7, Aubrey Winter 3, Rae Smart 8, Shelbi LaBrie 3, Braeden Gunlock 7, Kenleigh Graham 12, Alli Glasscock 23, Coral Old Bull 5.

Wyoming: Kennedy Davila 3, Lauren Olsen 17, Jaden Meyer 18, Lauren Kuhbacher 3, Izzy Kelly 2, Elyn Bowers 15, Kaylie Neary 6, Karson Tempel 6, Emma Asay 2, Brynn Sybrant 8.

NOTE: This story will be updated.

Email Gazette Sports Editor John Letasky at john.letasky@406mtsports.com or follow him on X/Twitter at @GazSportsJohnL

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