Hawk basketball looking for bid to State

Hawks looking for bid to State

by Danny Waldo

All of the hard work and countless hours of preparation could come down to this one weekend as both the Bozeman Hawk boys’ and girls’ basketball teams head to Great Falls with bids to the state tournament on the line.

The Class AA Eastern Divisional basketball tournament will begin on February 28th and run through March 2nd in Great Falls at CMR’s Fieldhouse, with the Top 4 teams earning a trip to the state tournament March 7th–9th in  Butte.

Girls

The Bozeman Lady Hawks enter the 2019 Eastern AA Divisional as the No. 3 seed, and open the tournament against the No. 6 seeded CMR Rustlers, a team the Hawks swept in the regular season.

Should Bozeman get by the Rustlers, a difficult matchup with the Butte High Bulldogs potentially awaits in the semi-finals. Butte, the No. 2 seed, is loaded with shooters on the perimeter, and head coach Maury Cook’s Bulldogs gave Bozeman all it could handle in a 48-36 victory in Bozeman back on February 19th.

No. 1 seeded Billings West looms on the other side of the bracket and could stand between the Hawks and a divisional crown on championship Saturday night. The girls’ divisional championship is slated to kick off at 6pm on Saturday, March 2nd, with the winner earning the East’s No. 1 seed at the state tournament, while the runner-up will carry the East’s No. 2 seed to Butte. The Top 4 teams qualify for state.

Boys

Bozeman (12-4), the No. 3 ranked team in the state, will enter the 2019 Eastern AA Divisional as the No. 2 seed and will take on the No. 7 seeded Butte High Bulldogs in the opening round of divisionals. Bozeman swept both of its meetings with the Bulldogs in the regular season, most recently a 61-46 victory in the Mining City on February 19th.

The Hawks have been on a bit of a roller coaster the second half of the season after losing senior Ryan Simpson to a wrist injury in their first meeting with Butte on January 29th. They knocked off two of the top teams in the East in Great Falls High and CMR toward the end of the season, but closed out the regular season with a loss to conference bottom dweller Billings Senior.

The boys’ side of the bracket is loaded as Great Falls High (No. 1), Bozeman (No. 3) and Billings West (No. 4) are all ranked in the Top 5 in the state, and Great Falls-CMR and Skyview have proven they can beat anyone as well, meaning the divisional tournament is wide open and it will be a fight for the Top 4 spots and a trip to the state tournament.

Should Bozeman get by their opening-round matchup with Butte, a potential marquee matchup with Billings West could await in the semi-finals with a state tournament berth on the line.

The boys’ divisional championship matchup is slated for 8pm on March 2nd. •