The Columbia Falls boys and girls enter the Northwestern A divisional basketball tournament as teams to beat, but neither has an easy road to a divisional title.

The boys (7-1 Northwestern A, 13-5 overall) were tested during the regular season against second-seeded Whitefish (6-2, 11-7), which split the season series with the Wildcats, and third-seeded Frenchtown (5-3, 9-9), which Columbia Falls beat by five points in December. The girls (8-0, 15-3), survived a pair of close games against second-seeded Frenchtown (6-2, 14-4), winning by a combined six points to maintain its unblemished conference record.

“I think the exciting thing is how evenly matched a lot of these teams are,” Whitefish boys coach Mark Casazza said. “I think a lot of games are going to come right down to the wire.”

The tournament tips off today in Ronan with a pair of play-in games. The Libby boys (1-7, 7-11) play Polson (1-7, 6-12) at 6 p.m. and the Whitefish girls (1-7, 1-17) take on Libby (1-7, 3-15) at 8 p.m. The winners of the play-in games will face Columbia Falls on Friday. The top two boys and girls teams advance to the state tournament.

“There’s really no secrets at this point,” said Cary Finberg, who coaches Columbia Falls’ boys and girls teams. “Everybody knows the other teams. You want to make sure you’re playing confident basketball and peaking at the right time.”

Winners of four straight divisional titles, the Columbia Falls boys are used to playing with a target on their backs, but being the top seed is uncharted water for the girls.

“The boys know the routine,” Finberg said. “They should be playing with a lot of confidence right now.

“The girls, this is new territory for this crew, but they’re playing their best basketball of the year as well.”

The boys are led by a trio of double-digit scorers in Luke Kazlauskas (15.1 points per game), Jared Trinastich (11.6) and Alex Presnell (11.2).

“They pressure the ball all the time,” Casazza said of Columbia Falls. “They try to take you out of your offensive rhythm and they do a great job of it. They’re physical on both ends of the floor, they do a great job of getting to the foul line and they shoot well from the charity stripe.”

The Whitefish boys could be the biggest challenger to Columbia Falls’ divisional title streak, but Casazza said he is focused on the Bulldogs’ first-round game against Frenchtown, which tips off Friday at 4 p.m.

“The first thing we need to focus on is our Friday night game,” Casazza said. “Frenchtown, they’re pretty good. The thing that’s going to be fun in that game is it’s going to be speed on speed. We’re two of the fastest teams in the conference. Both teams like to push the ball up the floor.”

Whitefish leads the conference in field goal percentage (43.6 percent) and three-point percentage (32.4) and has a pair of double-digit scorers in Cooper Olson (12.7) and Logan Harwood (11.6).

Casazza identified Polson as a dark horse contender. While the Pirates won just one conference game all season, they won three of their last five games. Both losses during that stretch were to Columbia Falls.

Frenchtown is the leading contender alongside Columbia Falls in the girls’ bracket. Led by center Vanessa Stavish, the third-leading scorer in Class A with 17.7 points per game, the Broncs are riding a five-game winning streak. Columbia Falls also has a high-scoring center in Haley Belgarde, who averages 15.3 points, and the Wildkats are unbeaten against Class A opponents.

“If we play like we’re capable, we feel like we can take care of business, but anything can happen in tournament play,” Finberg said.

Third-seeded Polson (4-4, 7-11) will have to finish ahead of Columbia Falls or Frenchtown to secure a state tournament berth, but coach Randy Kelley believes his girls are capable.

“We’ve got to play some good defense, take care of the ball and do the little things that have gotten away from us at times,” he said. “We’ve had games where we played three good periods but not a complete game. If we play a full game, I think we’ve got a legitimate shot to give them a challenge.”

While both Columbia Falls and Frenchtown each have a game-changing center, Kelley said both teams have a strong supporting cast that makes them tough to beat.

“Both of those teams have plenty of role players that know their roles, take care of the ball and play defense,” he said. “Frenchtown might be a little more physical. Columbia Falls, they play pretty smart on both ends of the floor.”

Polson got off to a rocky start with six straight losses, but improved as the season wore on and finished with three wins in its last four games. Forward Heidi Rausch leads the Pirates with 11.4 points per game while guard Anna DiGiallonardo averages 8.4.

Thursday

Boys

6 p.m. — Libby (7-11) vs. Polson (6-12)

Girls

8 p.m. — Whitefish (1-17) vs. Libby (3-15)

Friday

Boys

2 p.m. — Columbia Falls (13-5) vs. Libby/Polson winner

4 p.m. — Whitefish (11-7) vs. Frenchtown (9-9)

Girls

6 p.m. — Columbia Falls (15-3) vs. Whitefish/Libby winner

8 p.m. — Frenchtown (14-4) vs. Polson (7-11)