High School Basketball champions will be crowned this weekend as state tournaments run Wednesday through Saturday throughout Montana.

I will be watching some of the best basketball players the state has to offer, knowing that several of them will move on to a college program and for a very limited few, a possible professional career in the sport.

This time of year I always ask myself, how important are the Northern Districts when it comes to High School Basketball in Montana?

Teams from this area are accustomed to playing in the spotlight on Saturday night.

I found it interesting that on the Boy’s side the state champion has come from the Northern District 29% of the time over the last 111 years. That number is even greater on the girl’s side with the state champion coming from this area 39% of the time over the last 50 years.

Of course that only accounts for the winner.  There were many cases over the years that the runner up. The third and the fourth place were occupied by North Central Montana teams.

What parameters did I use to determine the geographical area that I included  

For Class AA I used our radio listening area which includes Great Falls and Helena.  I did the same for Class A, Browning, Fergus and Havre.  For Class B and C I used the schools that compete at the Northern Divisional Tournaments.

Let’s take a look at the girl’s teams that have won over the years.

Girls’ basketball started in 1972, did not have a season 2002 due to the season change over.

Also a reminder that there were co-state champions in all 4 classes in 2020 due to Covid.

Here are the girl's teams with the number of state championships won:

• Malta- 10 (5 of their titles came against Fairfield)
• Havre- 8
• Fairfield- 8 (5 of their titles came against Malta)
• Belt- 7
• Great Falls High -4
• Fergus of Lewistown -4
• Helena -4
• CMR -3
• Box Elder -3
• Winifred -3 (added 2 more after cooping with Roy)
• Helena Capital -3
• Simms -2
• Chinook -2
• Big Sandy -2
• Highwood -2
• Moore -1
• Chester -1
• Browning -1
• Kremlin Gildford -1
• Geraldine -1
• Saco Whitewater -1
• Fort Benton -1

On the boy’s side

High School Basketball started back in 1911 with 1943 cancelled due to WWII. 

Just like the girl’s, co-state champions were awarded in 2020 due to Covid.

Here is the boy's list:

• Great Falls -10
• Helena -10
• Fairfield -9
• CMR -8
• Cut Bank -8
• Malta -8
• Browning -4
• Chinook -3
• Choteau -3
• Belt -3
• Capital -3
• Box Elder -3
• Havre -2
• Conrad -2
• Big Sandy -2
• Shelby -2
• Kremlin Gildford -2
• Heart Butte -2
• Fort Benton -1
• Stanford -1
• Power -1
• Fergus of Lewistown -1
• Hinsdale -1
• Chester -1
• Cascade -1
• Winifred -1 (they won another title as a co-op; Roy/ Winifred)
• Rocky Boy -1
• Gildford -1

For the girl’s record I used the MHSA Past State Champions page on the MHSA website.

For the boy’s record I used the MHSA Past State Champions page on the MHSA website.

If you have a story idea or something you want to learn more about, give Randy a call at 406-788-3003 or send me an email at randall.bogden@townsquaremedia.com