The Rustlers opened Region IX tournament with a play in game Saturday at Miles City. The Rustlers lost, 75-42.

The Rustlers were lead by Paulani Tarawa with 20 points and eight rebounds, with Marissa Arnold chipping in eight points and eight rebounds.

The Rustlers got off to a good start going into halftime down three, 32-29. It was in the second half when the Pioneers came out with a new found intensity and began to pull away. The Pioneers outscored the Rustlers 43-13 in the second half.  The Pioneers tough defense lead to 19 Rustler turnovers in the second half. Miles City scored 19 points off of Rustler turnovers in the second half.

The Rustlers shot 50 percent from the field and 50 from beyond the arc in the first half. In the second half they made only three of their 23 attempts for 13 percent to finish the night shooting 31 percent from the field. The Rustlers were zero percent from beyond the arc in the second half finishing the night shooting 20 percent from beyond the arc.

"We had a poor shooting second half and nothing seemed to go right," said head coach Ken Swartz. "We turned the ball over too much to stay in it, and they came out in the second half and outplayed us."

The Rustlers finish the season 11-20 and averaged 68 points per game, shooting 41 percent from the field, 27 percent from beyond the arc, and 68 percent from the charity stripe. The Rustlers averaged 44 rebounds per game and 13 assists.

Story by Mika Pinner