Montana State

Helena High’s Hilborn commits to Montana State

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The Montana State women’s basketball team landed one of the Treasure State’s top athletes on Monday. Kamden Hilborn, a standout three-sport athlete from Helena High who helped guard the Bengals to two straight Class AA state basketball titles, has committed to sign during the late period, which ends on May 16.

Hilborn confirmed her commitment on Tuesday morning in a message to Skyline Sports. 

The 5-foot-7 point guard earned Class AA state tournament MVP each of the last two seasons, leading the Bengals to their second straight state title with a 53-49 win over Missoula Sentinel in Billings in March. Helena’s lone senior carried her team to the repeat, scoring 22 points, grabbing six rebounds, notching a steal, an assist and a block in her last prep basketball game. She shared state tournament MVP honors with junior Jamie Pickens, the Montana Gatorade Player of the Year who has verbally committed to Montana for the class of 2019. 

“I’ve said this all year long: Kamden Hilborn is just a winner,” Helena High head coach Eric Peterson told Richie Melby of MTN Sports following the win. “She’s an amazing athlete and an amazing basketball player and the bigger the game, the better she plays. Once again, that was proved tonight. She’s last year’s state MVP and this year she came out and probably bettered last year. Toward the end of the game there I pulled her over and told her I love her. If anyone has put in more time than her, I don’t know who it is.”

Hilborn was a Class AA first-team all-state selection as a junior and a senior on the hardwood. She also led Helena High to two Class AA soccer titles in the last three years, earning all-state honors each season. Last fall, she was the Western AA’s second-leading scorer with 14 goals, 17 assists and 45 points. According to the Montana High School Association, her 17 assists area  Class AA record. The Bengals have won four straight Western AA championships.

Last fall in the state tournament in Missoula, Hilborn scored three times, once in each of Helena’s three wins. In the championship game against undefeated Bozeman, Hilborn scored the go-ahead goal on a penalty with nine minutes to play to break a 2-2 tie on the way to a 4-2 Bengals’ win. She assisted on two other goals that afternoon at Fort Missoula.

“Kam is an exceptionally gifted athlete … achieving All-State recognition in soccer, basketball and track & field,” HHS coach Mike Meloy told Curt Synness of the Helena Independent Record in October. “Despite this success, she is not full of herself, (and) is a consummate team player.”

Hilborn is on pace to garner 12 varsity letters once this current track season is complete. She has captured first place in the pole vault at the Bozeman-Helena-Great Falls Triangular, the Swede Dahlberg meet in Butte, the Russ Pilcher Top 10 meet in Missoula and the Skor Dekam Invite in Helena so far this spring. Her personal-best vault of 11 feet, six inches at last spring’s Class AA state championship meet in Butte earned her second place. She finished third in the pole vault as a sophomore and sixth as a freshman. She also placed in the top 10 at the state meet in the 100-meter hurdles and the long jump as a junior.

This story will be updated. Photos contributed. All Rights Reserved. 

About Colter Nuanez

Colter Nuanez is the co-founder and senior writer for Skyline Sports. After spending six years in the newspaper industry with stops at the Missoulian, the Ellensburg Daily Record and the Bozeman Daily Chronicle, the former Washington Newspaper Association Sportswriter of the Year and University of Montana Journalism School graduate ('09) has cultivated a deep passion for sports journalism during his 13-year career covering the Big Sky Conference. In August of 2014, Colter and brother Brooks merged their passions of writing and art to found Skyline Sports.

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