Monday's prep basketball challenge game slate set

The challenge game. It's what tournament basketball is all about.

One team moves on, and the other hangs up the basketball shoes and washes the jerseys for the final time this winter.

Great Falls' C.M. Russell Fieldhouse will play host to a pair of challenge games Monday evening as the final installment of the Central A tournament will be played. Action tips at 6:30 p.m. as Lewistown and Livingston play for the league's second girls' state tournament berth. The boys will follow at 8 p.m. when Havre and Livingston are slated to take the court.

The girls' winner will match up with Eastern A champ Billings Central while the winner of the boys' game will also face Central. Class A girls begin Thursday, March 5 in Hamilton while the boys must wait a week to begin their Bozeman-based tournament.

Fairfield and Choteau girls will square off for the fourth time this season in Conrad Monday as well. That game tips at 6:30 p.m. Choteau leads the season series 2-1 over the three-time defending Class B champions. The winner will play the No. 2 seed from the Southern B, which holds its divisional tournament this week in Billings, in the first round of state March 12 at Four Seasons.

The other three Class A boys' brackets feature challenge contests Monday. Miles City and Laurel will play for the East's second spot at 7 p.m. at the Billings MetraPark. Polson will take on Frenchtown at 7 p.m. in Whitefish for the Northwest's second spot.

Hamilton will play host to Butte Central at 7:30 p.m. for the Southwest's final berth. That game will be preceded by the girls' challenge at 6 p.m. between Butte Central and Dillon.

In Class C girls' action, both the Eastern and Western divisions will have challenge games. Broadview-Lavina and Wibaux tip at 7 p.m. Monday at Laurel to determine who will go to Missoula this week from the East. The Western play-in between Twin Bridges and Harrison-Willow Creek is Monday as well at 7 p.m. at Manhattan Christian.