Western B basketball tournament 'wide-open'
Joseph Terry Daily Inter Lake | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 11 years, 11 months AGO
It takes just three wins to get to state, but with high pressure and high competition, it won’t be easy.
The Eureka girls (13-7), enter as a top seed in the Western B basketball tournament, and will need to work hard to make it to Butte on March 7-9. The Lady Lions open the tournament today against Mission (8-13).
“We’re looking forward to it,” Eureka coach R.J. McDole said. “We were able to squeak a few practices in this week. The girls are pretty excited, I think they’re ready to get things going.”
The favorite in the tournament comes from the other side of the bracket, where Class B No. 4 Deer Lodge (19-1) rang up an undefeated record in the 6B. The Wardens are on an 18-game winning streak, having only dropped a two-point loss to No. 6 Choteau this season.
“Deer Lodge is probably the team to beat coming into it, by the way they’ve been playing all season,” McDole said.
The 6B is also entering tough teams in Missoula Loyola (8-12), which will open against Bigfork (8-13) in the late game tonight, and No. 9 Florence (14-6), an extremely fast team with a deep bench.
“It’s wide open on either side,” McDole said. “I think any team has a shot.”
The play should be wide open on the boys side as well, which gets under way on Thursday. While No. 3 Bigfork and No. 1 Florence enter as favorites, there’s a lot of competition in the tournament.
Bigfork (16-4) opens against Mission (7-14), a team its already seen twice this season, and has the potential to play No. 8 Loyola (13-7) if both teams win in the first round.
“It’s going to be a good divisional,” Bigfork coach Kurt Paulson said. “I could see some upsets. Anything could happen really.”
The Vikings have seen most of the squads they’ll play this weekend, beating Mission each of the first two times they’ve played this season and splitting with Florence. But while there may be familiarity, there’s not comfort.
“We play Mission first, they’re scary,” Paulson said. “We’re just planning for them. We’ve beat them twice, but it’s a tournament, so we’re not taking anything for granted.
“We’ve gotta be ready to roll. They’ll be ready for us. They know what we’re going to do and vice versa. We’re going to look forward to that one. Like I said, they’re scary.”
The tournament opens today with the girls first round as Deer Lodge plays Plains at 1 p.m. at Flathead High School. Florence is scheduled to start against Thompson Falls at 2:45 p.m., Eureka will play Mission at 6 p.m. and Bigfork will play Loyola at 7:45 p.m.
Western B divisional
At Flathead High School
First-round games
Girls
Wednesday
1 p.m. — Deer Lodge (19-1) vs. Plains (10-10)
2:45 p.m. — Florence (14-6) vs. T. Falls (11-9)
6 p.m. — Eureka (13-7) vs. St. Ignatius (8-13)
7:45 p.m. — Bigfork (8-13) vs. Missoula Loyola (8-12)
Boys
Thursday
11:20 a.m. — Bigfork (16-4) vs. St. Ignatius (7-14)
1 p.m. — T. Falls (7-13) vs. Missoula Loyola (13-7)
4 p.m. — Florence (19-1) vs. Eureka (1-20)
5:45 p.m. — Deer Lodge (9-11) vs. Troy (8-12)
ARTICLES BY JOSEPH TERRY DAILY INTER LAKE
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