Flathead at Glacier for crosstown basketball

If you are looking for a couple words to describe the crosstown basketball series for Flathead and Glacier, intense along with high emotions immediately come to mind.

And those will be on display once again at the Glacier High School gym this evening.

The girls will kick off rivalry night at 6 with the boys to follow at 8.

“As far as planning (for this game, compared to others) when it comes to the girls, we have to calm them down,” Flathead coach Tricia Dean said of the crosstown.

“I want them to be ready to go, not overly nervous.”

The Flathead and Glacier girls split last year in the regular season. Glacier then beat Flathead in divisional play in Helena and wound up advancing to state.

Glacier leads the series 20-5.

The Flathead boys won both regular-season meetings with Glacier, the first game in overtime. They also met in the divisional tournament with Glacier winning in triple overtime.

The Wolfpack boys also advanced to state.

“A packed gym, all their friends and family will be there,” Dean said of crosstown.

“It’s a different atmosphere. I think it’s really cool they get to play in an atmosphere like that.

“The girls take a lot of pride in playing for Flathead,” Dean continued.

“It’s not just another game. They get pretty jacked up for crosstown. Our games (with Glacier) are competitive, really close. It’s cool to see.”

Flathead enters play 5-2 overall, 1-0 Western AA. Glacier checks in at 4-2, 1-0.

“It will be close,” Dean said. “I just feel the game will be super competitive again. We have similar styles of play and defense oriented, that’s where we like to hang our hat. It will be a defensive struggle.”

The Flathead boys are 4-3, 1-0 while Glacier is 3-3, 1-0.

The second crosstown matchup is set for Feb. 5 at Flathead.

“We’re both very similar in what we accomplish and what we try to do,” Glacier coach Bill Sullivan said. “We have similar records and have played common opponents. It doesn’t matter what goes on, crosstown games are wild, crazy and fun to play. Anything can happen.”