Eastern B Divisional Preview - Girls

While the boys Class A, B, and C State Tourneys get underway today, the B and C girls are just at the divisional stage. Slim already joined us with a Southern C preview, and in Class B, it's the Eastern B that concerns us most.

Eastern B Divisional – Girls @ Red Lodge – Thurs.-Sat. (Top two advance)

Here are your 1st Round Girls matchups for the Eastern B Divisional @ Red Lodge:

12:30 p.m. – Columbus (16-4, 4B #1) v. Broadus (10-10, 3B #4)
2:15 p.m. – Huntley Project (12-10, 4B #3) v. Baker (10-10, 3B #2)
6:15 p.m. – Colstrip (15-5, 3B #1) v. Red Lodge (9-12, 4B #4)
8:00 p.m. – Shepherd (18-2, 4B #2) v. Lame Deer (7-12, 3B #3)

1. Who's the favorite?

Unlike the boys side, this is a very loaded Divisional as Columbus, Shepherd, and Colstrip all could win this tournament. All three have the talent to beat anyone on any given night. Columbus is coming off a huge District win in which they played their best basketball all season.

Shepherd has the best record of all three (18-2) and is the only one of the three to have an overall winning record against the other two (1-1 v. Colstrip...2-1 v. Shepherd). However, they lost their last meeting with each team (Colstrip on the last weekend of the reg. season and Shepherd in the 4B Title game).

Colstrip's only loss in the last month was to Class A power Miles City, and the Fillies are playing very well coming into the Eastern B. But they will have to play their best ball to beat Shepherd and Columbus on a neutral court (that will without a doubt have more Columbus and Shepherd fans due to proximity).

2. Non-District Champion with best chance to pull off an upset at Divisionals?

Definitely Shepherd. It was a mild upset Saturday night when Columbus beat the Fillies in the 4B title game, let alone beat them as badly as they did. That was only Shepherd's second loss of the year, against 18 wins, including 2 earlier victories over the Lady Cougs (it's always hard to beat a team three times in a row). The Fillies have a great inside-out game with guard Whitney Baustadt and forward Jillian Stanek. That combo can be very dangerous to any team Shepherd comes up against.

3. District Champion most likely to be upset at Divisionals?

I'm gonna go with Colstrip based on the fact that their likely 2nd round opponent is Shepherd, whereas Columbus' will either be Huntley Project or Baker, two teams Columbus should easily beat.

4. State Tournament Qualifier Predictions:

I have to go with Columbus and Shepherd as the two teams most likely to move on. Columbus is playing better than anyone else, and their 1-2 punch of Hannah Counter and Megan Patterson is good enough to carry them even if the rest of the team has an off night.

As for Shepherd, I think they've got the motivation (lost in State Championship last year) and the talent to overcome their less-than-stellar play over the last two weeks. They will have to if they are going to get by Colstrip, who is playing very well and already owns a 4-point win over Shepherd in the regular season.