Plains girls basketball team get valuable experience at a nameless Ronan tourney

There were no official winners, losers or even a name for the tournament last Saturday as 30 high school teams from around Montana returned to Ronan for the 16th annual … thing.

“We don’t keep any team records or anything like that. It’s just a round-robin format,” event organizer Gale Deckers said. “We use MLA officials and play with the official high school rules, but we shorten each game to one hour to keep the games moving.”

The unusual format allowed organizers to pack 70 games into the tournament’s two days of action. Both varsity and sub-varsity teams played together in the tournament.

The games were spread between the two courts at the Ronan Events Center, the RHS gym and the K. William Harvey Elementary School Gym. Teams paid a small entree fee to cover the cost of the MLA officials.

“It’s just a good opportunity for these kids to get in the gym and play some games,” Deckers said. “Our only concern is giving them as many games as we can.”

Plains brought just one team - their girls’ junior varsity squad that was coached by high school assistant Richard Griffin. The young team unoffiically finished the tournament 0-5, but picked up valuable experience against high school competition.

“Six of our eight girls were in eighth grade last year and we were competing well with sophomores and juinors,” Griffin said. “We played Victor’s varsity and lost by just five, I think.”

Griffin credited the recent success of the Hot Springs girls’ basketball team to keeping the same team together throughout their school years. He hopes that his current group of girls will stay together, as well, and lead a similar revival of Plains’ basketball program.

“I think if this group stays together it can be a really good thing for Plains,” Griffin said.