Hoopsters gather for Plains 3-on-3

More than 300 adults and kids gathered on the tarmac of the old Plains airport on Saturday for the 8th Annual Wildhorse ShootOut 3-on-3 basketball tournament.

It was near nonstop action as the crowd cheered for players of the 73 teams that registered for the tournament at the Amundson Sports Complex, including a dozen teams from Sanders County, said Erika Lawyer, who coordinated the tournament put on by the Wildhorse Sports Association. WSA is the nonprofit organization that runs the sports complex. The double elimination tournament ran from 9 a.m. to nearly 4 p.m., when the Money Ballers of Lake County defeated the 406 Destroyers of Missoula 9-6 in the championship for the third- and fourth-grade level contest.

Lawyer's daughter, Ava, was on the McGowan Grocery team, which nabbed first place in the ninth-grade girls class after defeating the Bayside Ballers from Bigfork. Her teammates included Emelia Rivinius of Plains, and Addy Deal and Aubrey Baxter of Thompson Falls.

In the second-grade division, the Flock of BERDS had a player from Thompson Falls, Reed Mickelson, along with Anaconda players, and took first place. The Plains Shooters high school boys - Darren Standeford, Jayden LaPierre, Shawn O'Keefe and Jarrett Weeks - placed second in their division. And the Wrecking Crew open men's class took second place with Plains residents Tony and Justin Hochstetler, along with a player from Kalispell and one from Tennessee.

The games were 25 minutes long with a short break between clashes utilizing 16 courts along the old runway. Lawyer guessed that 80% were returning teams and included players from Deer Lodge, Drummond and Browning, along with several teams from Kalispell, Missoula and the Mission Valley. The players ranged from 5 years old to men in their 40s. Local teams included the Runnin' Rednecks 2.0 of Thompson Falls in the third and fourth grade bracket, the Plains Titans, the Plains Beast Ballers and the Thompson Falls Buckets, all in the boys fifth and sixth grade class. The boys 11th and 12th grade team of the Spa City Slashers were from Hot Springs. The 406 Storm Black had a player whose father was originally a Hot Springs resident.

Ten of the 19 referees had ties to Sanders County. Nathan Schraeder, Jesse Claridge and Chesney Lowe are all recent grads from Thompson Falls. Doree Thilmony teaches at Thompson Falls. Brooks Sanford teaches at Plains and is the Trotters basketball head coach. Brady Ovitt, a Plains High School graduate, is the Hot Springs athletic director. Sam Carter has been a long-time youth baseball and soccer coach at the complex and his son Kody is a recent grad from Plains. Aaron Pfister is a recent grad from Plains. Dewey Arnold, a resident of Plains, has served as a high school basketball referee for numerous years.

Tournament organizers also held a dunk contest during the midday break. Plains resident Jackson Revier, 13, won the six-foot hoop class among nine competitors. He was also a member of the 406 Elite team, which was a mix of Plains and Thompson Falls players. The eight-foot hoop class had only five participants, but all were from outside Sanders County. Suzy VonHeeder of Plains served as this year's emcee. Clark Fork Valley Hospital's Advanced Practice Registered Nurse Anna Marie Mitchell was on hand at the first aid station tent in the event of injuries. She said there were only minor bumps, bruises and a sprained ankle.

Lawyer felt the tournament was a big success, raising around $4,500 for the Amundson Sports Complex. Teams paid $160 to play. "The cost of everything has gone up, but we held our registration fee the same as last year. We will do that as long as we can so we can get as many kids on the courts and still make it a good fundraiser," she added.

"At this point, we will put the money back into the complex. We will have to decide if we want to purchase two more permanent hoops. They are much better to play on, they are much easier to deal with setting up, tearing down and we don't have to store them," said Lawyer.

The tourney utilized 10 permanent hoops and six mobile ones Saturday. The WSA purchased three new permanent hoops last year. "We think we have one of the best player experiences from a court standpoint in all of western Montana," said Lawyer, president of WSA. The tournament started out with WSA borrowing hoops from Mission Valley before raising enough funds for their own, beginning with a dozen temporary ones. Lawyer noted that the tournament has grown significantly over the years, starting with only 28 teams in 2016. COVID prompted a cancellation in 2020. They had 80 teams last year.

"We always had to borrow a fork lift for the dunk contest to hold a breakaway rim, borrowed again from Mission Valley 3 on 3, so we invested in permanent hoops and were pleased with the amount of play it got throughout the year," she said, adding that they kept adding permanent hoops. Mission Valley gave them 20 flip scoreboards, saving WSA nearly $2,000. "Since 2018 we have raised over $35,000 with this fundraiser and provided a fun activity and an additional way for families to enjoy the Amundson Sports Complex," said Lawyer, who added that the tournament this year might have brought nearly 1,000 people to Plains, spending their money at gas stations, restaurants, stores, and motels.

"This is the only fundraiser we have been running for the last few years and I would really like to see if we can't put together a fun league in the summer to utilize this fantastic asset and raise money to continue to improve our complex," she said.