Sanders County Ledger - Your Best Source For Sanders County News

It's been a lot of fun so far but now things get a little more serious.

District 14C boys and girls basketball teams will congregate at Joe McDonald Gym in Pablo this weekend for the combined conference tournaments which will decide which two teams from each will move on to the Western C divisional tournament in Hamilton the following week.

On the girls side, the Plains Trotters earned the No. 1 seed and a bye through the first round Thursday. Noxon will face St. Regis in the first game of the girls tourney Thursday at 12:45 p.m. with the winner of that game earning a date with the Trotters Friday evening.

On the other side of the bracket, Charlo will play Hot Springs at 4:15 p.m. and Arlee will face Two Eagle River at 7:45.

In the boys 14C tourney, unbeaten Arlee, the No. 1 rated Class C team in Montana and the defending State C champions, have the top seed and bye, and will await the winner of Thursday's 11 a.m. game between Noxon and Two Eagle River in the semifinals Friday.

The No. 3 team in the district, Charlo plays Hot Springs at 2:30 p.m. Thursday and No. 2 Plains takes on St. Regis at 6.

Plains boys coach Mike Cole knows that the 18-0 Arlee Warriors are the team to beat, but has to think his 16-2 Horsemen have the best chance of joining Arlee in advancing on to the Western C tourney.

The Horsemen have built their fine season with shutdown defense, a handy thing to have for any team, especially at tournament time.

"Our kids have taken ownership of our defense, of trying to play solid on that end every time out," Cole said. "They are taking pride in it and that is nice to see."

Cole ranks Arlee as the undisputed favorites. He thinks the Warriors' intense defense is what makes Arlee's offense sing. "They take you out of stuff, throw you off your rhythm. You might get some open looks and then rush the shots when you do have them," he said. "They are a very tough team to play."

Beyond Arlee, Cole says he is not looking past anyone.

"Noxon is getting better all the time, they concern me," he said. "Charlo is very athletic and improving too, and Hot Springs is picking up another key player this week, so I expect them to be ready to go in Pablo as well. We will have to play well if we hope to move on."

Hot Springs coach Ricky DePoe sees Arlee and Plains as the teams to beat.

"Arlee is Arlee, they are going to be tough to beat," DePoe said, "and Plains is not far behind, they are just so well-coached.

"Mike does a great job with that team," he added, "and they are a tough, disciplined team because of it."

Going with only six players earlier this season, Hot Springs' roster recently grew to 10 with the addition of three eighth graders and the return of junior Tyler Knudsen, who was coming off a foot injury suffered during football and had not played yet this basketball season.

DePoe said his team impressed him with their fine team play in a 57-41 road win over St. Regis last Thursday, and hopes they reach their peak of performance this week.

Another very young team, the Noxon Red Devils played Plains tough at times before dropping a 51-35 decision to the Horsemen in Plains Saturday.

"Those Plains kids play hard, they out-played us in the last three quarters," coach Bart Haflich said. "We are going to have to pick it up a notch or two if we want to get out of district."

In the girls tourney, Plains and Arlee finished tied for first in regular season standings (Plains was awarded the top seed based on a preseason flip of the coin), but 14C appears much more even in talent than on the boys side.

Also the Lady Devils' coach, Haflich thinks his girls could contend for one of the top two spots and the corresponding berths into the Western C tourney, but that it will take a concerted effort from his players.

"It's tournament time and anything can happen," he said. "If we can get by St. Regis in our opener we would get another shot at Plains in the semis, and we feel like we can play with them."

The Lady Devils proved that Saturday in their game at Plains, closing within two points late before falling back in a 46-38 loss to the Trotters.

Of the seven teams in the girls tournament, only Two Eagle River probably does not have much of an opportunity to move on.

Although they lost starter Brianna Gray to a knee injury several weeks ago, coach Richard Jackson and his up-and-coming Savage Heat girls, and St. Regis for that matter, are capable of pulling off an upset or two.