M-ettes head to 2B Tourney

The Malta M-ettes are heading into this weekend's 2B District tourney already having punched their ticket to the Northern B Divisional thanks to their win over Glasgow last Saturday, February 8.

Malta will take on the Wolf Point Lady Wolves on Friday, February 15, in game two of the 2019 2B District Tournament. The tournament is scheduled to be held in Glasgow from Thursday, February 14 through Saturday, February 16.

Wolf Point is the number two seed going into the district tourney, boasting a 16-1 overall record and a 7-1 record in the district.

Wolf Point most recently was defeated by the 3C powerhouse Scobey Spartans on Saturday, February 9. The Lady Wolves defeated Glasgow 58-30 on Thursday, February 7. The team was led by Jaylee Azure who scored 19 points and Mya Fourstar who scored 11 points.

"Wolf Point plays a lot of zone, so one of the things you have to do is shoot fairly well," M-ettes Head Coach Nate Hammond told the PCN. "They make it tough to penetrate and get inside but we will try and do the best we can."

Malta gained some retribution for their loss to Glasgow earlier this season, defeating them 46-40 at the Malta High School Gymnasium on Friday, February 8.

"We were excited," Coach Hammond said. "That was a big game. Glasgow is always a big game in Malta for every sport but that was a big one for a lot of reasons for us. I was really proud of our kids coming in with a few injuries and having all of our kids step up and play harder to cover for that."

The team lost starting guard Kelbee Denham to an injury in the team's game against Roundup a couple of weeks ago.

The game would end up being Malta's final game of the 2018-19 season as subzero temperatures called for a cancellation in Shelby on Saturday, February 9.

In their win over Glasgow, Malta was led by Kloie Marks who had 19 points, eight rebounds, and three steals. Raina Mortenson had seven points and two rebounds. Carly Garfield had six points, six rebounds. Wylee Young had five points. Erica Smith had four points and four rebounds. Kylie Hunter had four points. Kylie Schipman had six steals, five assists, and one point.

Malta dominated the game on both ends in the opening quarter, outscoring Glasgow 19-5. The Lady Scotties responded in the second quarter outpacing Malta 16-14 in the second quarter, but Glasgow's best effort was in the third period when they outscored Malta 11-2, closing the gap to 35-32. Malta would ultimately hold on to their lead defeating the Lady Scotties 46-40, by scoring 11 in the fourth quarter and only giving up eight.

Both teams shot poor from the field, with Malta only making 14-of-43 (32%) of their shots and Glasgow making only 15-44 (34%). Glasgow made 6-of-10 free throws (60%) while Malta only made half of their attempts. The major difference between the teams was that Malta got to the charity stripe 32 times, converting 16 shots.

Malta forced 16 turnovers while Glasgow forced six. Glasgow had 32 points off of the bench while Malta had nine.

The win over Glasgow was the deciding factor in the M-ettes automatically clinching a spot in the 2019 Northern B Divisional that will be held in Malta on Thursday, February 21, through Saturday, February 23.