Florence girls basketball team headed to state

by Scott Sacry

The Florence girls basketball team plays in the Class B State tournament in Missoula on March 13-15.

The Lady Falcons, the #2 seed from the West, play Chinook, the #2 seed from the North, in their opening game on Thursday at 8 p.m. at the Adams Center on the University of Montana campus.

Florence has a 19-4 record this season, and took 2nd place in both the 6B Districts and the Western B Divisionals. Their losses have come against Missoula Loyola and Malta, who are both in the state tournament as #1 seeds. 

The Chinook Sugarbeeters have a 19-5 record this season and finished 2nd in the Northern B Divisionals. They lost to Malta, 37-47, in the Northern Divisionals championship game on March 1. 

“We feel we got a good draw for our first game against Chinook,” said Florence head coach Shane Meinhold. “They are a very fundamentally sound team on both sides of the ball. They work really hard on defense, primarily playing man. They move the ball around really well on offense and are led by senior point guard Alexus Seymour, who’s a 1,000 point scorer. We feel we match really well with them and should hopefully be able to use our length and athleticism to help us secure the first round win at state.”

Florence and Chinook are on the same side of the bracket as Huntley Project, the #1 seed from the South, and Fairview, the #3 seed from the North. #1 seed Missoula Loyola and #1 seed Malta are both on the other side of the bracket. 

“Our team feels really good heading into state this week,” said Meinhold.  “We had the goal of getting back to state and have now refocused our goal to come home with some hardware and play Saturday evening.” 

The Florence girls are the only Bitterroot Valley basketball team to make a state tournament this year, and since they play in Missoula, it’s a perfect opportunity to go to the games and show your support.