M-ette Basketball 2017-18

The Malta M-ettes will have a totally new look in the 2017-18 season after losing five starters to graduation.

That class included two-time Montana Gatorade Player of the Year point guard Sophia Stiles, who led Malta to two state titles and four championship games in her illustrious career as an M-ette. The team also lost forwards Jada Nicholson and Eva Harms, guard Raleigh Hunter and post Shay Garfield who were each a part of the M-ettes' 54 game win-streak that ended last December in Poplar.

Though the team has graduated five seniors, the M-ettes still have retained more experience on the state tournament level than many of the teams that they will see this season.

"I've got eight kids that are going to get a pretty heavy rotation," Coach Nate Hammond said. "We have got 17 kids out and one senior."

The team's lone senior this season is post-player Ella Schye.

"We are looking for some big things from her," Coach Hammond said. "She is athletic and six-feet tall. She really runs and jumps well. She is a really good defender and we are looking to get quite a few baskets out of her around the rim."

Coach Hammond praised her efforts stating that she has been working on her finishers around the rim.

"She is doing great in practice so far," Coach Hammond said.

Malta's junior class consists of seven athletes, many of which have varsity experience, including Taylor Gilkerson, Kyleigh Schipman, Janessa Malmend, Raina Mortenson, Taylor Eggebrecht and Kloie Marks. Coach Hammond also mentioned Wylee Young, who has been working hard in practice.

"They are all going to get to play a bit," Coach Hammond said. "They all have been doing real well in practice and have come a long way."

Schye, Gilkerson and Schipman had the most playing time last season and each have left their mark in games last season.

"I think the biggest thing is that they have been able to step forward in practice and feel like this is their team now, even though they are only juniors," Coach Hammond said. "All three of those kids have been playing hard and setting the tone in practice. They have been fun to coach and it has been a fun year for me so far."

Gilkerson proved to be quite the perimeter threat as a catch and shoot guard last season.

"She had some good tournament games, especially at divisionals," Coach Hammond said. "She had a couple of big games and she was doing pretty well against Fairfield. She had some stretches last year where she got pretty hot and made some big shots for us."

Schipman also proved to be a capable role player in last year's team during tournaments.

"Kyleigh had some pretty big shots in the tournaments too, especially in the divisional tournament," Coach Hammond said.

Coach Hammond commended her efforts in the paint, saying that she played pretty good post defense.

Coach Hammond admitted that with so many seniors last season it was hard to get many minutes for this year's junior class, but he has noticed that many other juniors were right there and that they will see the court this season.

"We are going to have a lot of kids that are going to get more varsity time than we did last year," Coach Hammond said. "We are a little green yet but we are going to have a lot of good rotation and we are pretty deep."

The team has five sophomores and four freshmen. Two sophomores Carly Garfield and Kelbee Denham earned varsity letters last season.

"Both are looking to contribute a lot to the varsity team as well," Coach Hammond said.

As far as the team's offensive and defensive schemes go, there will not be many if any changes as the team will look to spread the ball like they have for the past few seasons.

"We haven't changed everything and we are still doing a lot of the same things," Coach Hammond said. "We may do some things more than others and some things less than others that we did last year."

He went on to say that their offense depends on what they will face from other teams defensively.