Lady Mavs second at 3C Tournament

The Lady Mavericks continued their perfect streak of qualifying for the Eastern C Divisional Tournament, as the team was also, once again, runner up in the 3C District Tournament.

The Lady Mavericks have qualified for the Eastern C in each of their five years as a co-op, after defeating the Dodson Lady Coyotes 52-26 in the semi-final round of the 3C District Tournament in Glasgow, last Friday. The Lady Mavericks went on to face Scobey in the 3C finals but lost 49-25.

North Country Head Coach Amber Erickson pointed to the fact that Scobey shot the ball well that night, as they hit 46 percent of their shots from the floor.

"We did not communicate defensively and they unfortunately capitalized on that and got some easy open looks on offense," Coach Erickson said. We struggled to get into a flow offensively and that had a lot to do with their tough defense."

The Lady Mavericks were led by Kaitlyn McColly who had six points, four rebounds, and two assists. Jaydyn Erickson had six points and Jaycee Erickson had five points and four assists.

Though things didn't go their way, Coach Erickson praised the Lady Mavericks for their efforts, despite a rough night.

"The girls played through their frustrations and never quit fighting," Coach Erickson said. "We took pretty good care of the ball despite their relentless pressure."

With only two teams heading to state, and Scobey being on the other side of the bracket, Coach Erickson believes that facing a foe like the Spartans, has prepared them for the Eastern C.

"Scobey is probably the toughest team in our Division which means that we have a legitimate shot at getting out of Divisionals if we play well," Coach Erickson said.

Standing in the way of their berth to state is the Froid-Medicine Lake Red Hawks who won the third-place trophy in the 2C District tournament. The Red Hawks defeated the Culbertson Cowgirls 62-42 last Saturday in the consolation finals.

Coach Erickson believes that she may know enough about Froid-Lake to make it past them this season.

"Froid-Lake has some height and will likely play us an extended 2-3 zone," Coach Erickson said. "I believe we can use our quickness and aggressiveness to push the tempo and to attack the gaps on their zone. They do not have many players that they play off their bench so being aggressive and keeping an uptempo game should work in our favor."

The Lady Mavericks are scheduled to play Froid-Lake at game two of the Eastern C Divisional on Thursday, February 27.

Last week, the Mavericks entered the District Tournament with a bye thanks to their regular season record, but Coach Erickson is not the biggest fan of the bye.

"Truthfully I don't know that I am a big fan of a first round bye just for the fact that when you do finally get to play your first game and the team you are playing has already had a chance to get a game in," Coach Erickson said. "It can backfire on teams sometimes because sometimes teams come out a little nervous and tight."

The team went on to defeat Dodson 52-26 last Thursday. Leading the charge was McColly who had 18 points, nine rebounds, and five steals. Jayd. Erickson had 10 points and five rebounds, and Jayc. Erickson had nine points.

"The key to our win against Dodson was solid man to man defense," Coach Erickson said. "We did a great job contesting their outside shots and keeping in front of their penetrators which limited any easy looks at the basket for them. We also rebounded very well as a team finishing with 32 rebounds to their 22. We had a lot of great balance in the scoring column as well."