Columbia Falls seeks 1st title since 1983
The Columbia Falls girls basketball team (20-1) enters this year’s Class A state tournament in Butte with the best record in the state, a spot that is familiar the last few seasons.
Each of the last two seasons the Wildkats have entered the state tournament as one of the favorites to take home a state title, a feat that would be only the second in school history and the first since 1983.
Last year, the Wildkats were 19-2, their only losses coming to Butte Central in a narrow Divisional final loss and Class AA Missoula Sentinel in the regular season. Two seasons ago, they were 19-1 entering the tournament.
Both of those trips ended with trophies, but not the big one. Columbia Falls finished second last season and third the year before that.
This season, Columbia Falls is a heavy favorite, having won its games this season by an average of 37 points. The Wildkats are unbeaten in Class A this season, including a Western A title and two wins over defending state champs Butte Central.
Yet, if Columbia Falls is to win a title this year, it will have to go through another tough gauntlet.
The Wildkats open the tournament at 12:30 p.m. today against Eastern four seed Laurel (11-10) in the first round. The Locomotives have wins over tournament teams Hardin and Belgrade this season and have some players that could five Columbia Falls trouble. Before last season, Laurel had placed at state for four straight seasons.
“They’ve got a couple of girls that can shoot the 3 ball real well, a couple of girls that can penetrate pretty good,” Wildkats coach Cary Finberg said.
“It’s mostly four girls doing most of the damage. I think that’s where our depth is going to come into play. It’s a matter of making sure we don’t let one of their two, three main players get going.”
On the same side of the bracket is Central A champion Havre (15-6) and Butte Central (16-6). Columbia Falls met both teams in last season’s tournament, beating Havre in the first round and losing to the Maroons in the finals.
This season, Havre has again been one of the most consistent teams in Class A, beating Belgrade twice and Laurel once this season before a runenr up finish to Hardin in the Eastern A divisional. Butte Central again has played some of the best defense in the state, and carries a handful of athletes over from last season’s state title team.
“They’re the state champs until someone knocks them out,” Finberg said.
On the other side of the bracket, Hardin (20-1) carries the state’s longest winning streak into the tournament, having been on the right side of its last 18 games. The Bulldogs open against Hamilton (8-14), who pulled off some upsets in the divisional tournament to make the final weekend. Western A runner up Corvallis (12-9) takes on Belgrade (13-9) in the other first round matchup.
“We’re playing good basketball right now,” Finberg said. “Our confidence is very high. This is the reason these girls have put all the time in, is to put themselves in a position to do this. We feel good about our first round matchup.”
For winners of the first round games, semifinals are played on Friday night, with loser-out play in the morning. Saturday morning begins with consolation semifinals followed by the third place game at 6:30 p.m. and the championship at 8 p.m. All games will be played at the Butte Civic Center.