M-ettes start season 2-0

The Malta M-ettes delivered some high-powered offense in a pair of wins at the Shelby Tip-Off Invitational last week in Shelby.

On Friday, December 7, the M-ettes defeated Cut Bank 66-57, in Malta’s first game of the season. They went on to snag a 74-68 overtime win over Florence-Carlton on Saturday, December 8.

The M-ettes will travel to Harlem to take on the Lady Cats on Friday, December 14. The team will then host the Poplar Lady Indians for their home opener.

Harlem fared well last season against the M-ettes, winning all three matchups, but this season, the Lady Cats have added some new faces, one of which is Melony Fetter, who was Dodson’s highest scorer last season.

“They have a girl from Dodson who helps them a bit and then they have a freshman who does a good job for them,” Malta Coach Nate Hammond said.

The Lady Cats also welcome back 2018 All-Conference starters Skylee Dirden, and L-Tia Lawrence. Poplar also brings back Imani Bighorn and Chloe Shields who were both named to the annual list.

In their first win of the season over Cut Bank, Malta was led by Kelbee Denham, who had a 16-point, 11-rebound double-double, as well as five assists and five steals. Raina Mortenson had 13 points and four rebounds. Kyleigh Schipman had 12 points, five assists, and three rebounds while Carly Garfield had 11 points and nine rebounds, and Kloie Marks had eight points, five assists, five rebounds, and four steals.

“I thought that in that first game against Cut Bank, we were kind of fortunate to get out of there with a win,” Coach Hammond said. “I felt like we didn’t play as well (as we could have).”

Coach Hammond pointed attention to the team’s poor shooting, in which they only hit 22 of 64 (34%) shots from the floor. The team only converted 3-of-14 (21%) of their three-point attempts, and the team was also 19-40 from the free-throw line.

“But we were able to take care of the ball pretty well and force them into a lot of turnovers,” Coach Hammond said. “We forced them into twenty-five turnovers and it was good enough to win. I was really proud of them.”

In their win over Florence-Carlton, Malta was led by Erica Smith who had 19 points and six rebounds. Denham had a 12-point, 10 rebound double-double, and nine assists, leaving her one short of a triple-double. Marks had 12 points and nine rebounds. Schipman scored 12 points. Mortenson had 10 points and Carly Garfield had nine points and seven rebounds.

“In the Florence-Carlton game, I thought we played pretty hard and shot the ball better,” Coach Hammond said.

Malta was 26-of-50 (52%) from the floor, going 6-of-17 (35%) from the three-point line. The team made 16-of-25 (64%) from the free-throw line. The M-ettes built up a lead, outscoring Florence-Carlton 25-12 in the first quarter. Teams traded buckets in the second quarter as both were able to score 14 in the second. The halftime score was 39-26 for Malta. Florence Carlton outscored Malta 40-27 in the second half tying the game for overtime. Malta would then outscore Florence-Carlton 8-2 in OT.

“We were able to tough it out and beat them in overtime. I was really proud of the kids,” Coach Hammond said.