It's a big week for Polson and Ronan basketball as the Western A Divisional tournament starts today. The Ronan boys are locked in for that tournament. The Ronan girls and both Polson teams had to fight through play-in games last week to earn their spots.

What teams are set to play in Hamilton? Let’s check out the scores from those games.

Polson Boys 61, Whitefish Boys 56

The Polson Pirates were coming off three straight losses and a win against Whitefish on Feb. 24 was enough to start the winning trend for the boys.

The Bulldogs hadn’t beaten the Pirates in their previous match-up and it looked like Polson wasn’t going to give them that satisfaction either. 

Polson played this one much closer than their previous 78-59 thrashing of the Bulldogs. The Pirates led 20-9 early, setting the tone in a must-win game. 

Polson led again in the second quarter, increasing the lead to 37-21 in the first half. The second half was a different story as Whitefish took control of their own offense with a 19-point third quarter.

Polson held on despite being outscored 16-10 and earned the 61-56 victory to close out the team’s regular season.

Malakai Curley led the team with 19 points. He also passed the 300-point mark on the season. Maddox Bird earned 300 points in career scoring in this game as well.

Polson Boys 52, Whitefish Boys 45

It was time for the Northwest A play-in on Feb. 26 and Polson was set up for a rematch with Whitefish.

The Bulldogs weren’t going to go down early as they took a 12-11 lead in the first quarter. Whitefish is a team that traditionally matches up well and they used that to their advantage.

In the second quarter, the teams tied it up 15-15 in second-quarter scoring. That helped Whitefish keep the lead going into halftime. Three-point shooting helped the Bulldogs keep their thin lead.

The second half was where Polson shone as they helped contain Whitefish to just single-digit scoring in the third and fourth quarters. That was thanks to some hard-nosed defense spearheaded by Kyson Michel. He helped contain some of Whitefish’s leading scorers while preventing any runs.

Michel’s defense helped spark the other Pirates as they turned it into offense as well. Two quarters of outscoring the Bulldogs and Polson notched the 52-45 win over Whitefish.

Michel led the team in points with 14. He also hit 300 points in varsity scoring for his career.

“We just got to keep our momentum and energy and just know it can end at any time,” Michel said.

Polson Boys 47, Bigfork Boys 45

It was a divisional clincher on Feb. 28, where Polson went up north to take on Bigfork.

The Pirates and Vikings were just a game away from divisional qualification, with Bigfork having the season edge. However, the Pirates were ready to compete.

The Vikings led 19-12 in the first quarter, with the Pirates struggling to score early. The Pirates had some low-scoring results against Bigfork so this game was going to come down to defense.

Despite trailing 32-20 in the first half, the Pirates found a rhythm in the second half. The Pirates outscored the Vikings 19-4 in the third quarter to go up by three points heading into the fourth.

With a trip to divisionals on the line, Bigfork couldn’t muster the three points needed to take the lead. Cody Haggard scored with just 15 seconds left to put the Pirates up two. A three-point heave by Bigfork’s Alex Ochs was no good as Polson won 47-45. 

That win sends them to Hamilton for the Western A Divisional Tournament starting on March 5.

Curley led all scorers with 18 points.

Whitefish Girls 68, Polson Girls 31

The Polson girls were also in desperate need of late wins as they faced off against Whitefish on Feb. 24.

For Polson, it was mostly bench players who played as the Lady Bulldogs completely controlled the game.

Whitefish led 34-14 after halftime and the Lady Bulldogs never looked back. With the Polson squad seeing little playing time from their starters, the Lady Pirates only managed to score double-digits in one quarter.

Whitefish won 68-31 to close out the regular season.

Ravea Tenas led the Lady Pirates in scoring with seven points.

Polson Girls 45, Ronan Girls 29

It was time for the play-in game and what better way to determine your divisional dreams than to make a rivalry rematch. Polson and Ronan faced off on Feb. 26 to see who could move up.

In the last matchup, Ronan took an upset win. This time, it was all Polson.

The Lady Pirates seldom trailed in this one, putting up double-digits in three of the four quarters. The first half scoring was spearheaded by Olivia Ramirez, who scored all of her 15 points.

“I feel so great, like this is so awesome,” Ramirez said. “I feel like I took this game like I knew this could have been our last game this season, so I feel like I kind of took it as like we need to, no matter what happens, we all need to go 100%, and no matter what happens, at least try to win. We went 100% and we all did that and it was a team effort. I'm so proud of us.”

Despite Ronan’s defensive pressure, they struggled to make wide-open attempts and found it difficult to stop some of the early scoring that helped propel the Polson offense.

After a 26-12 first half, the Lady Pirates just needed to buckle down on defense. For the Maidens, they needed to score on open looks.

Polson ended up winning that battle as they controlled the Ronan offense in the second half. The Lady Pirates took the 45-29 win, ending the Maidens' season in the play-in.

“I think our kids are relentless,” Ronan head girls basketball coach Steve Woll said. “You know, most teams when you're 1-8, they’d cash it in. These girls kept working, kept working. We kept experimenting, we kept trying different things. They bought in and saved five of your last seven at our conference, which is pretty good.”

Ramirez ended the night leading all scorers with 15 points. She also hit 100 points on the season for scoring. Polson’s Rylee Taylor-Jefferson hit the 100 three-point shots mark for the season. 

Ronan’s Nefertiti Stewart led the Maidens in scoring with seven points. Stewart also hit the 200-point mark for season scoring. Ronan’s Natalie Adams hit the 300-point mark for career scoring. Maddy Illig earned her 100th rebound of the season as well.

Ronan seniors Adams, Illig, Nevaeh Perez and Bailee Woll all helped contribute over 1,000 points, over 650 rebounds, over 175 career assists and over 175 career steals to their program.

Browning Girls 68, Polson Girls 49

Polson had one more game to punch their ticket to divisionals on Feb. 28 when they traveled up to play Browning.

Polson struggled throughout this one, trailing in the first quarter 18-9. Browning’s exciting home atmosphere is a tough one to win in and the Lady Pirates were not able to find a rhythm to start.

The Lady Indians kept scoring well as they went into the halftime break with a 35-20 lead.

Polson found a spark in the second half but Browning never settled. The offense for both teams was consistent, and with the gap that Polson had, they never managed to come back into this one.

Browning took the win 68-49 and earned their ticket to the Western A Divisional Tournament.

Hinkley Moss led Polson with 16 points, while Taylor-Jefferson followed that up with 13 points.

Polson will graduate Josie Henriksen as the only senior on this year's roster.

    Ronan senior Maddy Illig takes a floater against Polson on Feb. 26 at Linderman Gym in Polson. (Bob Gunderson Photo)
  

    Polson senior Cody Haggard looks around to pass the ball against Whitefish on Feb. 26 at Linderman Gym in Whitefish. (Christa Umphrey Photo)
  

    Polson sophomore Olivia Ramirez shoots a pass while running against Ronan on Feb. 26 at Linderman Gym in Polson. (Christa Umphrey Photo)