Morning Stars looking for a state tourney berth

The Rocky Boy Morning Stars are on a two-game winning streak — a streak that got them into the field at this week’s Northern B girls divisional basketball tournament.

Now, the Morning Stars are hoping to take the streak even further.

Rocky Boy will be an underdog in the brutal divisional bracket at the Northern B, which gets underway Thursday and runs through Saturday night in Glasgow.

The Morning Stars, who finished third at last week’s District 1B in Cut Bank, open with the Poplar Indians Thursday at 2:30 p.m. Poplar is the No. 2 team from the 2B and will be a tall task for the Morning Stars. Poplar is the only team to beat Malta this season, and the Indians have a scoring machine in Aleen Russell. On the other side, Rocky Boy is led by Adrienne Gopher and Jaylynn Mitchell, while Sean Henry and Rosie Parker are also capable of putting up big numbers.

But again, the Morning Stars, who have had an outstanding season under new head coach Cameron McCormick, are big underdogs this week. The Northern B features defending state champion Malta taking on Shelby, while 1B champion Fairfield is the other heavy favorite. The Eagles open against Wolf Point. Choteau, the 1B runner-up, and Glasgow, the 2B third-place team are also very good teams, making the Northern B easily the toughest of the four Class B divisional tournaments.

Three spots at the Class B state tournament are on the line this weekend. The Class B state tourney runs March 9-11 in Billings. All of the Northern B action will take place Thursday-Saturday in Glasgow.

Northern B

At Glasgow High School

(3 teams advance)

Thursday

Game 1: Fairfield vs. Wolf Point, 1 p.m.

Game 2: Rocky Boy vs. Poplar, 2:30 p.m.

Game 3: Malta vs. Shelby, 6:30 p.m.

Game 4: Glasgow vs. Choteau, 8 p.m.

Friday

Game 5: Game 1 loser vs. Game 2 loser, 1 p.m.

Game 6: Game 3 loser vs. Game 4 loser, 2:30 p.m.

Game 7: Game 1 winner vs. Game 2 winner, 6:30 p.m.

Game 8: Game 3 winner vs. Game 4 winner, 8 p.m.

Saturday

Game 9: Game 6 winner vs. Game 9 loser, 9:30 a.m.

Game 10: Game 5 winner vs. Game 8 loser, 11 a.m.

Game 11: Game 9 winner vs. Game 10 winner, 6:30 p.m., third place

Game 12: Game 7 winner vs. Game 8 winner, 8 p.m., championship.