Review: Eastern B Divisional - Girls

This group of teams has easily been my favorite Girls' teams to watch all season. For some reason, the 3B and 4B have a lot of talent this year and always step up to play well against each other. It's been a very high quality of basketball. But someone has to win, so let's review how the Girls Eastern B went down.

Championship: Columbus over Shepherd (49-43)

Consolation: Colstrip over Baker (49-35)

*Columbus and Shepherd advance to State because Shepherd beat Colstrip, 51-48, in Semi-Final round.

This is how I expected things to turn out. The Semi-Final matchup between Shepherd and Colstrip was a great matchup between two very distinct styles. Colstrip's Megan Wilson was a dominant force, on both sides of the ball, scoring 15 points and getting several key steals to actually put Colstrip in front in the 1st half. She almost single-handedly willed the Fillies to the title.

But Shepherd has a more complete team, whose scoring can come from a variety of places. In the Semi-Final matchup, Shepherd had five players score 8 or more points (led by Ashley Klassen's 12). That was the difference in this one late, as Shepherd could use several different options down the stretch to put points on the board, something Colstrip could not do.

As for the title game, Columbus once again got the best of Shepherd, just as they did in the 4B District Title game, although this matchup was much closer throughout (24-22 @ Half, 31-28 after 3rd Quarter).

But in the end, Columbus' "Dynamic Duo" of Hannah Counter (23 pts in title game) and Megan Patterson (14 pts) as too much for Shepherd to defend. Counter, when she's aggressive, is one of the best players in the state. She can get to the hole almost whenever she wants, not because she's faster than everyone, but because she's incredibly strong with the ball and has great body control. Not to mention she has a lethal jumpshot when given even a little space.

Patterson has the ball-handling and shooting skills of a a guard, although she's usually one of the two tallest girls on the floor. She is probably the toughest matchup in the State because of all the things she can do.

I expect Columbus to make a lot of noise at State, and Shepherd could be right there as well. Like I said, the Fillies are very balanced, which is huge at the State Tourney because nerves will play a factor with many girls. They can score from the outside with Whitney Baustadt and Baylee Crook, and have one of the tallest front lines in 6'2" Allie McRae (although her offensive game is a little raw) and 6'1" Jillian Stanek.