REGIONAL- The Ely Timberwolves and North Woods Grizzlies will open the Section 7A girls basketball tournament at home on this week, North Woods on Wednesday and Ely on Thursday, with the state’s No. 1 team in Class A, defending state champion Mt. Iron-Buhl, standing in the way of either reaching the tourney final.
Ely
The Wolves come into the tourney as the second seed on their side of the bracket, riding a four-game win streak with a 20-6 overall record. Originally scheduled for Wednesday with the other sectional games that day, Ely's opponent at 6 p.m. on Thursday will be seventh-seeded Cherry, sporting an 11-15 record. Ely should enter this game with confidence, having dealt the Tigers a pair of losses this season, 52-36 in January and 87-44 on Feb. 20.
Should the Wolves advance, they would have another home game on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. against the winner of No. 3 Chisholm and No. 6 Deer River. Ely beat Chisholm 64-36 in December and did not play Deer River in the regular season. At 17-9 and ranked 22 in Class A. just two spots lower than Ely, the Bluestreaks would be the tougher opponent to face.
With an Ely win and barring a major upset in the top half of the bracket, the Wolves would match up against the No. 1 Rangers in a semifinal game at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, March 6 at UM-Duluth. MIB, 23-3 going into the tourney, had a 13-game win streak snapped in a regular-season finale loss to fifth-ranked Mayer Lutheran. The Rangers easily defeated the Wolves in the regular season 83-38.

North Woods
As the No. 4 seed on their side of the bracket, North Woods, 16-9, draws No. 5 Bigfork at 6 p.m. on Wednesday. With the Grizzlies ranked 61st in Class A and the Huskies at 63rd, this could be a close contest. North Woods won the regular season matchup 65-54 at home, but Bigfork has a better record against common opponents, 11-4 to 9-5. North Woods averages 10 points more per game on offense, while Bigfork holds opponents to seven points fewer on defense than the Grizzlies. Should the game go down to the wire, North Woods can draw on its regular-season experience of having won five of six games decided by three points or less.
Should the Grizzlies prevail, their tournament trail will most likely end on Saturday, March 2 with a 4 p.m. game at Mr. Iron-Buhl. The top-seeded Rangers should crush the winner of the play-in game between 2-23 Nashwauk-Keewatin and 1-23 Littlefork-Big Falls to advance, and MIB beat North Woods 100-35 in the regular season. While North Woods was playing well at the end of the season, closing with a 7-2 run, the Grizzlies have little chance of upsetting the defending state champs.

Tickets are $5 for students and $10 for adults, and no passes are allowed. Wednesday’s and Saturday’s games will not be streamed online.