Ronan High School girls basketball coach Steve Woll said there is something “intrinsic” when Polson and Ronan get together for a meaningful conference game.

“There is more to it than just a game,” Woll admitted. “There are a lot of kids playing siblings and other relatives, and best friends playing best friends. From that standpoint, it is a totally different game and there are a lot of uncharacteristic things that happen in that game.”

Woll said one of the differences between this game and another regular season game is that both teams are playing for “bragging rights.”

“(Whoever wins) has bragging rights and that means the family has bragging rights,” Woll said. “There are some weird intrinsic feelings some people have and in games like these, I’ve seen weird things happen in the past. In these games, you never know what is going to happen.”

The Lady Pirates and Maidens will play each other in Friday’s doubleheader at Polson High School.

Woll knows the conundrum of the rivalry game is that it is just that: a game. Perhaps more important than the rivalry is that both the Maidens and Lady Pirates are both in search of their first conference victory of the season.

“This is a rivalry and neither one of us have won a conference game yet,” Woll said. “From that standpoint, the Ronan-Polson game is a big game.”

During the break, the Maidens have focused on their offensive and defensive fundamentals during practice.

“We are continuing to try to move forward with both the offensive and defensive fundamentals and trying to work on schemes,” Woll said. “he break practice and that is nice.”

Woll said his team is still focusing on “improving.”

The Maidens will play Polson Friday at 5:30 p.m. at Linderman Elementary.