BILLINGS — It had been nine long years since the Wyoming girls tasted victory in their annual all-star basketball rivalry with Montana.

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Robust Montana boys sweep, Wyoming girls end skid in All-Star Basketball Series

But that streak came to an end Saturday at Lockwood High School, as the Cowboy State snared an 81-75 victory to salvage a split in this year’s Midland Roundtable Montana-Wyoming series and win for the first time since June 10, 2016.

Meanwhile, the Montana boys had no designs on a split and rolled to a 98-73 victory in the nightcap, one year after being swept by Wyoming, which snapped a run of 22 straight wins.

The Treasure State boys took command early, leading by 25 points in the first quarter, and didn’t look back to extend their already commanding lead in the all-time rivalry.

Montana boys 98 , Wyoming 73

The boys from the Treasure State came into the week aware of Wyoming’s two-victories from last season, which ended a long run of dominance.

“We just wanted to get the streak back going,” said Box Elder’s Tracen Jilot. “We didn’t want to be that team that lost. Everybody’s watching you. You have people texting you, ‘You can’t lose this game.’”

Jilot, who helped Box Elder to two states titles and back-to-back undefeated seasons, certainly did his part by scoring a team-high 19 points, including nine in the opening quarter as Montana built its advantage.

Missoula Loyola’s Reynolds Johnston added 15 points, not to mention an emphatic alley-oop dunk in the final seconds of the game that punctuated the victory. Johnston, the Montana Gatorade player of the year from this past season, scored 10 of his points in the first quarter.

Other standouts for the Treasure State included Billings Skyview’s Zakai Owens, who had 15 points, and Manhattan Christian’s Christian Triemstra, who added 11. Montana finished with 10 3-pointers, two each from Johnston and Owens.

Greg Rachac / MTN Sports

But Jilot credited his team’s performance on the other end of the floor.

“The big thing was our defensive pressure,” Jilot said. “The biggest thing you can control is your effort on defense. That’s one of the biggest things we focused on, just being relentless and letting our defense create our offense, and just being unselfish.”

Laramie’s Jaden Smith paced Wyoming with 16 points. Lane Hladky of Gillette Campbell County and Casper Natrona’s Tanner Hagar each added 12. Campbell County’s Truman DeGrange made three 3-pointers, account for his nine points for the Cowboy State.

Montana, following a 102-90 win at the Pronghorn Center in Gillette, Wyo., on Friday, now owns a 69-29 advantage in the longstanding series.

Montana was guided by longtime Three Forks coach Mike Sauvageau in lieu of Steve Keller, who was away due to responsibilities as head coach of the Great Falls Electric of The Basketball League.

Wyoming girls 81, Montana 75

In the midst of what was a back-and-forth first half, Montana’s girls were able to build a 10-point advantage in the second quarter. But Wyoming closed the half with a final-minute flurry, and the Cowboy Staters went into halftime trailing 43-39.

The teams were separated by just two points at the end of the third quarter, but after a hoop by Billings Skyviews’ Rae Smart on a pass from Huntley Project’s Paige Lofing, Montana jumped ahead 69-62.

Greg Rachac / MTN Sports

A tough shot in the lane by Lofing gave Montana a 71-68 lead with 4:35 left, but that was the last field goal the team made until Dillon’s Kenleigh Graham scored a bucket with 19 seconds left. In between, Wyoming took control.

A transition basket by MSU Billings-bound Lauren Kuhbacher of Gillette Campbell County put Wyoming in front 72-71 with 2:36 left, and a steal and hoop by Pinedale’s Elyn Bowers made the score 77-73 in favor of Wyoming with 55 seconds remaining.

Bowers, who is headed to play at Eastern Washington in the Big Sky Conference, scored 21 points and made 9 of 10 free throws in the fourth quarter as Wyoming won for the first time in the series in nearly a decade.

“We really upped our intensity,” Bowers said. “We kind of really came together. As a group, I think we hate losing. All of our teams — our high school teams — are highly successful. We just wanted to come together, bring the intensity and get a win.”

Lofing, who is headed to play at Gonzaga, led the Montana All-Stars with 13 points, though she was hounded by tight defense in the fourth quarter. The MSUB-bound Smart added 12. Miles City’s Alli Glasscock and Lockwood’s Tailey Harris each had nine points.

Douglas’ Lauren Olsen scored 14 points for Wyoming, and Cheyenne Central’s Karson Tempel had 11.

Montana, which prevailed 91-80 in Game 1 on Friday at the Pronghorn Center, still leads the all-time girls series by a 42-14 margin.

CHEYENNE, Wyoming (ABC4) — In an opinion by the Wyoming Supreme Court released Friday, the Court ruled in favor of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the City of Cody Planning, Zoning, and Adjustment Board with regards to the construction of the Cody Temple.

The Court upheld the District Court ruling that Preserve Our Cody Neighborhoods (POCN) did not petition review of the temple permit’s approval within 30 days, so the Court did not have jurisdiction to hear their petition.

POCN is an unincorporated organization of Cody landowners against the construction of the Cody Temple, according to the Court decision.

The Church broke ground on the Cody Temple in September of last year after Wyoming District Court made their ruling that POCN filed their petition too late. Construction has continued since then.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: LDS Church breaks ground on controversial Cody Wyoming Temple after extensive legal battle

An in-depth history of the Cody Temple’s legal battles

The Cody Temple was announced in the October 2021 general conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It will be the third temple in the state, with others in Casper and Star Valley, Wyoming.

According to the Wyoming Supreme Court opinion, the Church chose a 4.69-acre parcel of land that it owned in Cody to build the temple, and in May 2023, it requested a special exemption to the height restriction of city ordinances. In addition, it also requested approval for the site plan and a conditional use permit (CUP).

The height restriction for residential zoning according to Cody city ordinance is 30 feet. The roof height for the proposed temple was 24 feet, but the spire would be 76 feet 11 inches.

The Cody City Planner argued that the Church did not need the special exemption because the roof height of the church was below the height restriction. Building height, as defined under Cody ordinance, “refers to the vertical distance between the average finished grade and the
highest point of the coping of a flat roof,” so under that definition, the proposed temple, with its flat roof (other than the spire), was not violating any ordinances.

In June 2023, the Cody Planning, Zoning, and Adjustment Board (the board) met to review the Church’s proposals. They allowed “extensive comment” from members of the public, including members of POCN and its attorneys.

Five of the seven board members were present at the meeting. There, they tabled the Church’s request for a special exemption. Three board members voted in favor (3-2) of the Church’s site plan for the temple. The motion to grant the CUP was passed 4-1, based on the recommendation of the city planner.

The Board said that the motion to approve the site plan failed and voted to table it, but the Church filed a petition for review on the site plans in district court. It argued that the board made a mistake “as a matter of law” when it ruled that the motion failed, because the motion did in fact have a majority vote in favor.

Homeowners file lawsuit against approval of Fairview Temple construction

The board held several other meetings to review the Church’s proposals in June and July of 2023. In the June meeting, the board discussed their acceptance of the Church’s CUP. One board member said that they had “a little bit of a hiccup in the procedural side of things.” He said that they did not intend to accept the city planner’s interpretation of the height restriction, but by accepting his recommendation, they had inadvertently done exactly that.

They made a motion to reconsider the acceptance of the CUP and once again tabled the site plan and the request for a special exemption, as no agreement was reached.

The Church then filed its second appeal with the district court, claiming that the board did not have the authority to reconsider the acceptance of the CUP at that meeting. It also alleged that they did not have the authority to reconsider and table the site plan after it was already approved at the June meeting.

In July, the Church withdrew its request for a special exemption. During the board meeting, they amended their findings of the CUP, and it remained approved.

The POCN made their first petition for review with the district court on August 21, 2023. They alleged that the board’s approval of the CUP during the July 25 meeting “was arbitrary and capricious, contrary to the law, and unsupported by substantial evidence,” according to the Supreme Court opinion. The Church then filed a cross-petition for review.

In August 2023, the board held another meeting, where they approved the Church’s site plan. On August 24, POCN filed their second petition for review, alleging that the board’s approval of the site plan was also arbitrary, capricious, contrary to law, and unsupported by evidence.

The district court combined the petitions, and it found that the site plan and the CUP were approved on the June 15, and therefore POCN had not filed their petitions within the 30-day time limit.

Ultimately, the Wyoming Supreme Court upheld the district court decision, siding with the Church and the board, and the Cody Temple can continue construction.

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