Lady Mavericks take second

The North Country Lady Mavericks are looking to make state for the first time in their third season as a co-op. Only two of eight Eastern C teams will advance to State this year.

The Mavericks will face the Froid-Medicine Lake Redhawks in the opening round of the Eastern C Divisional Tournament in Wolf Point on Thursday, February 22, at 1:30 p.m.

The Mavericks have not played the Redhawks this season, but know what to expect after losing to them in the 2017 Eastern C by 13 points.

“We are pretty familiar with them,” Lady Mavericks Head Coach Amber Erickson said, noting that her team played the Redhawks in last year’s divisional. “We match up with them really well. They have a couple of tall girls like we do, they have a really good point guard and I think we match up well. I am excited for this opportunity to get another shot at them.”

If the Lady Mavericks can make it past the Redhawks, they will likely see Savage, who won the 2C championship by defeating the Plentywood Wildcats 48-47.

On the other side of the bracket are the Scobey Spartans, Mon-Dak Thunder, Frazer Bearcubs and the Plentywood Wildcats.

In last year’s tournament, Froid-Mecidine Lake and Savage were the two teams who advanced to State. With both teams retaining plenty of talent, the Lady Mavericks have a battle ahead of them.

The team took second place at the 2018 District 3C Tournament in Wolf Point last Saturday, February 17, as the team fell to Scobey 41-32 in the championship game.

“They have some mentally tough players on that team,” Coach Erickson said of Scobey. “Defensively, we (Lady Mavericks) were solid. Scobey had to earn tough baskets.”

The Mavericks were led by senior Jada Sudbrack and freshman Kaitlyn McColly who both scored 10 points. Senior Mickayla Johnson had eight points.

Coach Erickson was proud of the team’s matchup at point guard, in which McColly was put against Kortney Nelson, the team’s top threat.

“Kortney is a very smart player and Kaitlyn just stuck with her all night long and every shot Kortney took, it was a highly contested shot. That was a huge part of our team’s success, but it started with Kaitlyn on the defensive end.”

North Country kept it close throughout, going into the halftime break down 18-17, then the team’s offensive output slowed down, as the team scored only 15 points in the second half, while Scobey scored 23.

“We got a little stagnant in the second half and we started standing instead of cutting hard like we needed to in our half-court offense, and that really hurt us,” Coach Erickson said.

The Mavericks advanced to the championship by defeating the Lustre Christian Lions 60-45 in the semi-final round.

Sudbrack had a game-leading 19 points, McColly had 14 points, and Johnson had 13 points and eight rebounds.

Teams were tied at 26 going into halftime, a result that needed some correction.

“They had beat us a week ago and it was a good wake up call with the girls,” Coach Erickson said. “This time they came out hitting everything. We didn’t come out smart defensively.”

After halftime, the Mavericks reaped the fruits of their team huddle, outscoring Lustre 18-13 in the third quarter and 16-6 in the fourth quarter.