Lady Mavs outlast Lady Coyotes

The North Country Lady Mavericks were able to defeat the Dodson Lady Coyotes 46-29 in Whitewater in the Penguin Palace last Saturday, January 11.

"It's pretty nice," Kia Wasson said of being able to play in Whitewater. "I like playing here because we always have a lot of support. People come up from Malta to watch and everybody in the community comes and watches, so it's pretty full and it gets pretty exciting."

Both teams were unable to win their respective clashes on Friday night, but the Mavericks were close, losing 38-36 to Scobey in Scobey, while Dodson fell 65-29 to Roy.

In Saturday's game in Whitewater, both teams displayed strong defense with both teams forcing turnovers throughout the entirety of the game.

The Mavericks were led by Kaitlyn McColly who scored 18 points and had three assists. Wasson had a 10-point, 10 rebounds double-double and four steals. Wasson's scoring total included a pair of treys. Jaycee Erickson scored seven points, all of which were in the first quarter.

"We had to pass the ball around and all of us had to score because they shut down all three of our best players, so our other players had to step up and another key was our defense for sure," J. Erickson said. "Melony (Fetter) is a great shooter. So we had to step up to her on defense and we had to stay low. We didn't at first, but we got it together in the second half. We got yelled at and were told to stay low."

Dodson was led by Melony Fetter who scored 15 points, ten of which were in the first half. Christina Jaynes had six points. Kataya KillEagle, Lindsey Fetter, Tiffany Cliff, and Jean Jackson each had two points.

Though the team had its share of turnovers in the first quarter, the Maverick offense would not be denied, outscoring Dodson 18-11. Both defenses clamped down harder in the second quarter with each team only scoring five points in the second period.

Despite the tough defense, neither team was over the foul limit in the first, with Dodson only fouling four times and North Country only fouling twice. Throughout the game, only Dodson reached one-and-ones when North Country fell into penalty with their seventh foul. Dodson only reached the line for six attempts and North Country only reached the line for three shot attempts.

"It was pretty," Wasson said. "They played an extended zone which made us use our heads a little bit more and make different decisions to make a score."

Dodson gave North Country a tough effort, one that gained the respect of North Country.

"They work pretty hard," Wasson said of Dodson. "They are pretty lengthy, so you have to be smart and they hustle on defense, push on offense and that makes us have to work harder. That's what we want."

The Mavericks outscored Dodson 11-4 in the third period and 12-9 in the fourth.

One night prior the Lady Mavs went toe-to-toe with the Scobey Spartans but ultimately fell 38-36. North Country was led by McColly who scored 17 points and eight rebounds. Wasson added 15 points.

"All of us got in our heads and thought, we can compete with them," J. Erickson said. "We stepped it up on defense, maybe a little bit too much on my part."

Erickson fouled out but believed that the team's defensive intensity against Scobey benefitted them in their win over Dodson the next night.

Dodson lost their game to Roy-Winifred on Friday, January 10, in Roy. The score was 65-29. Dodson was led by Jaynes who had 12 points. M. Fetter had eight points and KillEagle added five.