Basketball galore on the Hi-Line

On the Hi-Line, when high school basketball season hits, it hits hard.

That will be the case again this weekend, as there will be three major pre-season tournaments taking place at local gymnasiums to kick off the 2012-2013 prep season.

Today, Friday, and Saturday, there will be a basketball tournaments in Chester, Big Sandy, and in Havre. The tournament in Havre will be the annual Native American Classic (NAC), taking place at the Armory Gymnasium on the campus of Montana State University-Northern.

All three tournaments will bring in a number of boys and girls squads, as well as some junior varsity games, and overall, feature over 60 basketball games to the Hi-Line this weekend.

Playing in Chester, Valier, Augusta, Sunburst, Fort Benton, Geraldine, Hinsdale, Helena Christian and the 10C Chester/J-I Hawks will all tipoff. It will be the Hawks' season debuts, and both the boys and girls squads will face very talented teams. Thursday at 5:30 p.m. the C/J-I girls will face Fort Benton in their first game, while on Friday at 6:15 p.m., the Hawks will then face Helena Christian. The C/J-I boys will open its season on Friday at 8 p.m. as the Hawks will also face Helena Christian.

On Saturday, the C/J-I girls will play two more games. They will face Hinsdale at 1 p.m. and Geraldine at 6:25 p.m. The C/J-I boys will also have two more games on Saturday, as the Hawks face Hinsdale at 4:30 p.m. and Valier at 2:45 p.m.

Down the highway in Big Sandy, another handful of talented teams will also open their season. Highwood, Denton, Power, Roy-Winifred, and Dutton-Brady will all join the 9C Big Sandy Pioneers, Chinook Sugarbeeters and North Star Knights.

The Big Sandy girls will play Dutton-Brady at 8:30 p.m. on Friday and Power at 4 p.m. on Saturday. And the Big Sandy boys will face Power at 7:30 p.m. tonight, as well as Dutton-Brady at 8:30 p.m. on Saturday to close out the tournament.

The North Star girls will play Roy-Winifred at 2:30 p.m. on Friday and Dutton-Brady at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, while the North Star boys will face Highwood at 1 p.m. on Friday and Power at 1 p.m. on Saturday. And for the Chinook girls, the Beeters will face Denton at 1 p.m. on Thursday to open the tournament, and then Roy-Winifred at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday. The Chinook boys will face Denton at 2:30 p.m. Thursday and Winifred at 5:30 p.m. on Friday.

The NAC also brings in a lot of the top Native American schools in the state to Havre. This year, the Box Elder Bears, Rocky Boy Stars, Harlem Wildcats, Kainai, Hays-Lodge Pole Thunderbirds, Browning junior varsity, and Heart Butte Warriors will all gather at the Armory.

On Thursday, fans can see the Bears take on the Stars at 5:15 p.m. in girls action, as well as the Wildcats take on the Bears at 6:45 p.m. in boys action. And on Friday, the Thunderbirds will face Kainai at 9:30 a.m. in boys action, while the Wildcats and Thunderbirds (girls) will tipoff at 5:30 p.m., the Stars and Heart Butte (boys) will tipoff at 7 p.m., and the Stars and Heart Butte (girls) will tipoff at 8:30 p.m.

Saturday will bring four more games for local talent.

At 10:45 a.m., the Thunderbirds will face Heart Butte (girls). And at 5:30 p.m., the Thunderbirds will face the Wildcats (boys), while the Bears face the Wildcats (girls) at 7 p.m. The Stars and Bears (boys) will close out the tournament with a rivalry matchup at 8:30 p.m.

Teams have waited a long time to get back onto the court, and season and home debuts are finally here. The local boys and girls teams will get numerous opportunities to play over the three day span, and will all look to get their seasons started on the right foot.

Chester/J-I Tournament

Thursday

New Gym

2:00 - Valier vs. Augusta (Boys)

3:45 - Valier vs. Augusta (Girls)

5:30 - Sunburst vs. Fort Benton (Boys)

7:15 - Sunburst vs Fort Benton (Girls)

Old Gym

2:00 - Sunburst vs Fort Benton (Boys)

3:45 - Sunburst vs Fort Benton (Girls) (1/2 game)

5:30 - Fort Benton vs C/J-I (Girls) (1/2 game)

7:15 - Valier vs. Augustan (Boys)

Friday

New Gym

11:15 - Augusta vs. Sunburst (Girls)

1:00 - Augusta vs. Sunburst (Boys)

2:45 - Geraldine vs. Hinsdale (Girls)

4:30 - Geraldine vs. Hinsdale (Boys)

6:15 - Helena Christian vs C/J-I (Girls)

8:00 - Helena Christian vs C/J-I (Boys)

Old Gym

1:00 – Geraldine vs. Sunburst (Girls) (1/2 game)

2:45 – Helena Christian vs. C/J-I (Girls)

4:30 – Helena Christian vs. C/J-I (Boys)

6:15 – Augusta vs. Sunburst (Boys)

Saturday

New Gym

11:15 – Fort Benton vs. Helena Christian (Girls)

1:00 – Hinsdale vs. C/J-I (Girls)

2:45 – Fort Benton vs. Helena Christian (Boys)

4:30 – Hinsdale vs. C/J-I (Boys)

6:15 – Valier vs. Geraldine (Boys)

8:00 – Valier vs. Geraldine (Girls)

Old Gym

1:00 – Fort Benton vs. Helena Christian (Girls)

2:45 – Valier vs. C/J-I (Boys)

4:30 – Fort Benton vs. Helena Christian (Boys)

6:25 – Geraldine vs. C/J-I (Girls)

Big Sandy Tournament

Thursday

1:00 – Chinook vs. Denton (girls)

2:30 – Chinook vs. Denton (boys)

6:00 – Highwood vs. Power (girls)

7:30 – Big Sandy vs. Power (boys)

Friday

1:00 – North Star vs. Highwood (boys)

2:30 – North Star vs. Winifred (girls)

4:00 – Highwood vs. Denton (girls)

5:30 – Chinook vs. Winifred (boys)

7:00 – Dutton Brady vs. Denton (boys)

8:30 – Big Sandy vs. Dutton Brady (girls)

Saturday

1:00 – North Star vs. Power (boys)

2:30 – Chinook vs. Winifred (girls)

4:00 – Big Sandy vs. Power (girls)

5:30 – North Star vs. Dutton Brady (girls)

7:00 – Highwood vs. Winifred (boys)

8:30 – Big Sandy vs. Eutton Brady (boys)

Native American Classic

at MSU-Northern

Thursday

5:15 - Box Elder vs. Rocky Boy (girls)

6:45 - Harlem vs. Box Elder (boys)

8:15 - Kainai vs. Harlem JV (girls)

Friday

9:30 - Hays/LP vs. Kainai (boys)

11:00 - Browning JV vs. Kainai (girls)

12:30 - Browning JV vs. Rocky Boy JV (boys)

BREAK

5:30 - Harlem vs. Hays/LP (girls)

7:00 - Rocky Boy vs. Heart Butte (boys)

8:30 - Rocky Boy vs. Heart Butte (girls)

Saturday

9:15 - Rocky Boy JV vs. Kainai (boys)

10:45 - Hays/LP vs. Heart Butte (girls)

12:15 - Heart Butte vs. Browning JV (boys)

BREAK

4:00 - Browning JV vs. Harlem JV (girls)

5:30 - Hays/LP vs. Harlem (boys)

7:00 - Box Elder vs. Harlem (girls)

8:30 - Rocky Boy vs. Box Elder (boys)

Hays-Lodge Pole's Jeff Sorrell, right, shoots over a North Star defender during the 2012 District 9C tournament last February in Havre. HLP will be part of this weekend's season-opening Native American Classic in Havre, while the Knights will be at the Big Sandy Tip-Off Tournament. In all, there are three preseason tournaments on the Hi-Line this weekend. For much more high school basketball coverage, see the Winter Sports Preview inside today's Havre Daily News.