Montana / Wyoming All Star Game – Girls

The 2010 Montana All-Star series kicks-off tonight in Sheridan. I have made it to, quite a few of the games held in Billings over the past 10 or so years but it looks like I am going to have to sit this years out, for family issues in Missoula. Still the series is usually a great event, and I think this year will be no exception.

While I know most people tend to look at the boy’s game as the main event, the real star of this year games has to be the Girls game. While the Montana boy’s team really lacks star power, the Montana girls team is over flowing with star power, and you have to look no further than to Stanford bound Jocelyn Tinkle to find the biggest star of them all. Even with out Tinkle this team might rank as one of the best Montana teams ever fielded, but with her I can not think team that we have fielded with this much talent.

The Montana team features a balanced attack with Tinkle, Bannis, and Semansky capable of banging with the best of them and players like Patterson Albert and Tinkle (there is that name again) who can shoot from deep. To add to that mix a couple very athletic point guards and you very nice team.

Looking over the team the only negative I could find was that it seems most of more talented players on the team seem to be at the forward and center spots, but that may have more to do with my ignorance of some of the guards on the team, than anything else.

The Wyoming girls will have one advantage and it is that last week end a team consisting of 6 of their 10 players swept South Dakota in an all-star game series. This should be a tem that really knows how to play together. Players to look out for are, Gatorade Player of the Year in Gillette’s 6-0 Jordan Kent who averaged 10 points a game last week, 6-0 Morgan Mines of Arvada-Clearmont who had one of the more consistent games last week’s two games, and 5-7 Taylor Gardner of Sheridan who can put up points quickly. Wyoming has 2 players who signed on with D-1 schools (Montana has 7) for next year but most of the players on this roster will be playing College ball at one level or another next year.

Montana clubs have historically tried to balance the minutes of team member, each game and start a different line-up in each game, to give all the players a chance to shine, while Wyoming has typically started their best line up both games and play their best player as much as they can. This can have a big impact on game.

While I definitely think the Montana Girls have a big advantage coming into tonight’s game, by no means do I think they have it in the bag. There have been some big upsets in this series, and “home court” can be a huge factor, so it should be a good game. I really wish I could be there

Montana girls roster

Kelsey Hildal, 5-5, Kalispell Flathead;
Kalli McCloskey, 5-7, Butte;
Cassidy Wendell, 5-8, Whitehall;
Megan Patterson, 5-11, Columbus;
Monica Hollowell, 5-7, Huntley Project;
Rachel Semansky, 6-0, Highwood;
Ashley Albert, 6-0, Hamilton;
Brianne Holland-Stergar, 6-1, Butte;
Joslyn Tinkle, 6-3, Missoula Big Sky;
Chelsea Banis, 6-4, Fairfield.

Wyoming girls roster

Taylor Gardner, 5-7, Sheridan;
Morgan Mines, 6-0, Arvada-Clearmont
Taylor Diehl, 5-8, Casper Natrona
Katie Strandholm, 5-9, Sheridan
Jordan Kent, 6-0, Gillette
Nikki Tresch, 5-5, Glenrock
Kebra Kallstrom, 5-11, Cokeville
Catie Lohse, 5-3, Buffalo
Taylor Anderson, 5-10, Lyman
Jasmine Belin, 5-7, Cheyenne East.