by Scott Sacry
The Hamilton boys and girls are the only two teams from the Bitterroot Valley to make the Western A Divisionals, which are held in Whitefish on March 6-8.
The Hamilton boys play Browning on Thursday, March 6 at 1:30 p.m., while the Hamilton girls play Columbia Falls on Thursday at 3:30 p.m.
The top four teams from divisionals advance to the Class A State tournament in Billings on March 13-15.
Hamilton boys
The Hamilton boys are the #4 seed from the Southwest and play Browning, the #1 seed out of the Northwest, on Thursday, March 6 at 1:30 p.m. In what seems ages ago, the two teams played in the Frenchtown Tip-Off Tournament on December 14 with Hamilton winning 54-51.
“We are excited about the opportunity this weekend,” said Hamilton head coach Travis Blome. “The Western A is loaded with great teams and is always one of the most difficult tournaments. We open with Browning who is very well coached and is playing great basketball. It will be a real challenge but we are excited for the opportunity to play.”
Potential prognosticators will have a hard time projecting the results of the boys Western A Divisionals. The Dillon boys, the #1 ranked Class A team in the state, look to be a lock to finish high and make it to state. But outside of the Beavers, anything could happen, and it is conceivable that any team could beat any other team in this field. It will come down to individual match ups and who is playing the best at this point in the season.
The Hamilton boys will be in the thick of the action. This year’s Broncs have the talent to beat anyone. They have an elite leader in Canaan Magness, a superb all around player in Tyler Jette, and they play exceptional team defense. Hamilton’s ultimate success will come down to the play of their role players. If Hamilton’s young supporting cast continues to improve, this Bronc team will be hard to beat.
Hamilton girls
The Hamilton girls are the Southwest’s #3 seed and play Columbia Falls, the #2 seed out of the Northwest, on Thursday, March 6 at 3:30 p.m. The two teams played on January 11 in Hamilton with Columbia Falls winning 48-41.
Previewing the girls divisionals is a little more straightforward compared to the boys. There are three elite girls teams in the field: Bigfork, Dillon and Frenchtown. These three teams are the favorites to get the top three places at divisionals and advance to state.
This leaves the other five teams vying for one spot. Hamilton has a young and talented group of girls, and are among the teams that have a great chance to make it to state.
Hamilton head coach Vanessa Stavish likes how her team is playing heading into divisionals. “I couldn’t ask for a better group of girls and coaching staff to start my first year with,” said Stavish. “I feel really confident heading into divisionals. My team is playing their best basketball right now and we are hoping to continue to improve and be playing our best basketball at divisionals.”
Stavish is in her first year as the Hamilton girls head coach; she has been coaching for six years in total. Before this, Stavish was a standout basketball player for MSU-Billings.