Lady Mavs headed to Eastern C

With last Thursday's win over the Dodson Lady Coyotes, the North Country Lady Mavericks have made it to the Eastern C Divisional for the fourth time in their first four seasons.

The team eventually lost the 3C championship to the Scobey Lady Spartans last Friday, February 15, in Wolf Point, giving them the District 3C second place title and seed in the Eastern C Divisional Tournament scheduled to be held in Glasgow from Wednesday, February 20 through Saturday, February 23.

"I kind of feel like my girls are a dark horse going into the tournament," Lady Mavericks Head Coach Amber Erickson told the PCN. We are playing very hard right now, we have improved a ton and if we put the right game together and knock down shots, I think we can turn some heads at this tournament. I am excited."

Only two teams will advance to the 2019 Class C Girls State Tournament in Great Falls, scheduled to start on Thursday, February 28.

The Mavericks will square off against Plentywood who won the third seed in the 2C consolation game over Bainville on Saturday, February 16. The Wildcats were led by Mikayla Stevens and Brenna Osksa who had 13 and 12 points respectively.

The Wildcats were defeated in the 2C semi-finals by Savage who eventually won the 2C crown. During that game, the Wildcats were led by Liv Wangerin who had 16 points. Osksa had nine points and Ashton Curtiss added eight points.

"They are athletic and they have some length to them," Coach Erickson said. "They have a few players on offense that we need to key on defensively."

The Mavericks met up with the Plentywood Wildcats in their first game of the season at the Glasgow Showcase on Friday, November 30. Plentywood won 59-43, but Coach Erickson knows that her team is a different team since that day.

"That was a pretty good game and we have come a long way," Coach Erickson said. "I feel like this is a good first round match up for us."

In the team's semi-final win over Dodson, the Lady Mavericks were led by Jaycee Erickson, who had an 18 point, 10 rebound double-double, two assists, and two steals.

Kaitlyn McColly had 17 points, 12 rebound double-double, two assists, and two steals. Kia Wasson had 10 points, nine rebounds, and two steals. Kelsee Cummings had eight points, two rebounds, and two steals. Elise Strommen had five rebounds.

"Defensively, I thought we did a good job making them earn their points," Coach Erickson said. We really keyed in on their shooters and we made those shooters work hard to score. We also rebounded well."

North County jumped out to a 15-7 lead after the first period thanks to an aggressive offense and defense. The team's aggressiveness was not as effective in the second quarter as Dodson closed the gap to a two-possession game by halftime. The halftime score was 27-22.

"We made some adjustments at halftime to make some good open cuts in our offense against their 2-3 zone," Coach Erickson said. "We rushed and forced some stuff in the first half. We told them at halftime that they needed to slow down a little bit."

The adjustment proved effective as the team went on a 20-7 run in the third quarter. Thanks to their lead, Coach Erickson rested the Lady Maverick starters with less than two seconds remaining in the game. Dodson went on a nine-point run, outscoring the Lady Mavs 14-9.

The Lady Mavericks went on to lose the 3C Championship to the Scobey Spartans on Friday, February 15. The score was 48-30.

"Scobey is tough," Coach Erickson said. "They are a tough team and I think they have an excellent chance of getting out of our division. My kids played them tough and the score does not reflect how well I thought my girls played that night. Our effort was great and there was no quit."

Wasson led the Lady Mavericks with 11 points. McColly had nine points. Jaycee Erickson had seven points. Jaydyn Erickson had two points and Cummings had one point.

Scobey gained control of the game early and never relented, outscoring the Mavericks in every period. The Lady Spartans outscored the Lady Mavs 16-5 in the first quarter, 14-11 in the second, 11-8 in the third, and 7-6 in the fourth.

"It's all about survival and advancing and I felt that the girls had a great showing at the District Tournament," Coach Erickson said.