Clearbrook-Gonvick will be favored in Section 8A girls tournament

CLEARBROOK – The Section 8A girls basketball playoffs begin Tuesday and in the East sub-section Clearbrook-Gonvick will be the favorite.

The Bears took a 21-2 overall record into Tuesday’s game at Win-E-Mac and are 15-0 against section teams. The Section 8 rankings are determined by the final QRF figures and Clearbrook-Gonvick owns an 84.0 QRF.

A distant second in the East is Red Lake as the Warriors (13-5 overall, 7-1 against section opponents) have a 71.5 figure.

Trailing the leaders in the QRF rankings are Fosston (57.9), Kelliher-Northome (51.0), Mahnomen (49.1), Cass Lake-Bena (34.5), Lake of the Woods (29.7), Blackduck (28.8), Red Lake County Central (23.7), Laporte (21.4) and Bug O Nay Ge Shig (4.1).

Tuesday’s opening round of the section playoffs features three play-in games at the homes of the high seeds. The officials rankings will be determined this weekend.

The 11th seed will travel to No. 6 while No. 7 will host No. 10 and No. 8 will entertain No. 9.

The play-in winners will join the top five seeds for the section quarterfinals. Those games will be played Feb. 28 at Bemidji State University and Bagley High School.

The section scene shifts to the Ralph Engelstad Arena in Thief River Falls for the semifinals on March 2 and the final on March 5.

The top team in the West Sub-Section 8A field appears to be Win-E-Mac as it is 21-1 overall, sports a 13-0 record against section foes and has a QRF of 91.5. Warren-Alvarado-Oslo is second with an 86.7 QRF and Red Lake Falls is a close third with 85.3.

While Clearbrook-Gonvick is the leader in the East Sub-Section 8A standings the Bears will finish second in the Northwoods Conference standings.

Pine River-Backus is 12-0 in the league with one conference game left to play (today against Walker-Hackensack-Akeley) and has handed Clearbrook-Gonvick its only two losses of the winter.

C-G is 11-2 in the conference and closes that portion of its schedule today against Laporte.

Nevis has finished league play at 9-5 while Kelliher-Northome is 8-5 with today’s game against Cass Lake-Bena ending its regular season.

WHA is 5-7 in league play while Blackduck has ended 3-11, CL-B is 2-9 with two games to go and Laporte 0-11.

Bagley is likely to receive the fifth seed in the seven-team Section 8-2A North bracket. The Flyers entered the week with a 13-10 overall record, a 2-2 mark against section foes and a 64.7 QRF. Crookston is 6-1 in the section and owns the top QRF at 155.2.

The 8-2A playoffs begin Monday and continue through March 8.

Bagley ended its Pine to Prairie Conference schedule with a 10-5 record and finished in second place behind Win-E-Mac in the North Division.

In recent action the Flyers stopped Clearbrook-Gonvick 54-39, Laporte downed Bug O Nay Ge Shig 63-26 but lost 62-9 to WHA, Kelliher-Northome defeated C-G 62-47, Cass Lake-Bena lost to Blackduck 59-54 but edged RLCC 56-54 and Blackduck dropped a 64-42 decision to Nevis.

Boys basketball

In area boys basketball Bagley is likely to be seeded either sixth or seventh in the Section 8-2A North playoffs. The Flyers defeated Clearbrook-Gonvick 86-55 and Waubun 71-60 last week to improve to 8-15 but they are only 1-4 against section opponents and have a QRF of 46.8.

Roseau enters the week with a 46.7 QRF. Bagley and Roseau will meet Tuesday in Roseau and that winner will probably claim the sixth seed.

Crosby-Ironton will be the sub-section’s top seed as the Rangers have a 123.5 QRF.

Well behind in second is Crookston at 79.8.

Bagley also is fifth in the six-team Pine to Prairie Conference North standings with a 5-10 league mark. Win-E-Mac, Fertile-Beltrami and Mahnomen lead the division with 12-4 records while Fosston is 9-6 and Climax-Fisher 4-11.

The Flyers close their regular season with games against Norman County East on Friday, Roseau on Tuesday and East Grand Forks on March 1.

In Section 8A Walker-Hackensack-Akeley will receive the East sub-section’s top playoff seed as it is 11-0 against section opponents and has a 92.4 QRF.

Trailing the Wolves in the QRF ratings entering this week’s action are Mahnomen (79.6), Red Lake (65.4), Fosston (64.2), K-N (58.3), CL-B (52.2), Blackduck (52.1), Laporte (27.0), Clearbrook-Gonvick (24.9), Lake of the Woods (20.0) and Bug O Nay Ge Shig (6.9).

WHA also leads the Northland Conference standings with an 11-1 record. Nevis began the week 9-4 while Red Lake was 7-5, CL-B 7-5, K-N 6-5, Blackduck 7-6, Pine River 1-10 and Laporte 0-12.

In last week’s play Laporte lost 69-38 to WHA, K-N thumped Greenway 85-57, C-G fell 86-55 to Bagley and 81-54 to RLCC, Cass Lake-Bena stopped Blackduck 83-68 but was outgunned 117-99 by Lakeview Christian, Red Lake fell 65-58 to WHA and Blackduck was edged 69-62 by Nevis.

In the loss to CL-B, Blackduck senior Shane Fenske reached the 1,000-point mark for his career.