M-ettes win third Straight Northern B Title!

The Malta M-ettes Basketball Team has been crowned the Northern B Division Champion for the third straight year in a row.

"It feels really good," Malta senior captain Justine Lamb told the PCN. "I know that we have a really good team and I am just proud of every single one of these girls for pushing, no matter what. They are really good girls."

Lamb has been a starter for Malta in each of the past three seasons, which have all ended in Northern B gold. Another athlete, leading the charge for Malta, has been junior Allison Kunze.

"It feels great," said Kunze, who led Malta in scoring at the Northern B Divisional in Cut Bank last week. "I am so excited."

The M-ettes' last three-peat as champions of the Northern B Tournament occurred from 2015-17. The M-ettes won state in two of those three years. The only two that have been a part of both runs are Head Coach Nate Hammond and Assistant Coach Shane Anderson.

"I am very proud," Coach Hammond said. "It has been a tough tournament. We have got some tough teams here. How about Harlem? They sure showed up and played good. It was a good showing for District 2B, all the way around.

The M-ettes earned the 2022 Northern B title by defeating the Harlem LadyCats 53-40 in the championship game last Saturday, March 5, in Cut Bank.

Glasgow was the final team that punched their ticket to state, taking down Fairfield in the consolation finals, giving the 2B district the top three spots in the tournament.

The M-ettes reached the championship by defeating the Shelby Lady Coyotes 38-23 in the opening round of the tournament on Thursday, March 3, and then the Cut Bank Lady Wolves 54-24 in the Northern B Semifinals on Friday, March 4.

The M-ettes now head to Bozeman for the 2022 MHSA State B Girls Basketball Tournament. The State B Tournament is scheduled to start on Thursday, March 10, and conclude on Saturday, March 12.

State has been on Malta's mind since last season when the team took fourth place in Billings.

"We have been thinking about state all year," Coach Hammond said. "We just need to get healthy and rested and see where we are at."

In the opening round of the State B at 9 a.m. on Thursday, the M-ettes will face the Columbus Lady Cougars(13-8), who lost the Southern B Championship 42-28 to the Colstrip Fillies (22-1) on Saturday, March 5.

Columbus was led in the Southern B Championship by Katelyn Hamilton, who scored 13 points. Five Cougars were in the scoring column, but had less than five points each.

Colstrip is the lone champion on the other side of the bracket. The Fillies' highest-scoring game of the Southern B, was their opening round win over Huntley Project in which they won 85-59. They were led by Maddie Big Black, who had 25 points, and Canzaz HisBadHorse who had 21 points. Four Fillies scored double-digit points.

Depending on the outcome of their game against Columbus, Malta will be paired with either Bigfork (22-1) or Jefferson (10-9). Bigfork won the Western Division Tournament in dominant fashion, blowing past Deer Lodge 62-2, Thompson Falls 59-35 in the semifinals, and Thompson Falls 45-26 in the Western Division Championship.

In Malta's Northern B Championship win over Harlem, the M-ettes were led by Allison Kunze, who had 18 points, 13 rebounds, and one block.

"Teamwork, all of the way," Kunze said was key in Malta's championship win.

Addy Anderson had 14 points and five rebounds. Maddie Williamson had nine points, five assists, four rebounds, and two steals. Lamb had six points, six rebounds, and four assists. Aubri Werk had four points and Brylee French had two points.

Lamb overcame some adversity, picking up two early fouls. She was able to finish the game despite sitting out a big part of the first half.

"I just had to keep telling myself no more fouls," Lamb said. "Go up straight, play smart. Play smart and don't do anything stupid."

Lamb, like Kunze, said that working as a team was the key to winning the Northern B Title. She also said that defense was another focus, as well as working hard for every point.

Malta led throughout the game and led by as much as 19 points with 6:06 minutes remaining in the game. The M-ettes outscored Harlem in each of the first three quarters; 12-9 in the first quarter, 14-9 in the second quarter, and 17-8 in the third quarter. The LadyCats outscored Malta 14-10 in the fourth quarter.

Harlem was led by Taya Trottier who scored 17 points, and led the fourth-seeded LadyCats in a tournament shocking 50-44 victory over Fairfield in the opening round, and then a 54-45 semi-final victory over the Wolf Point Wolves.

Malta made 19-of-44 (43%) field goal attempts and made 5-of-7 (71%) three-point attempts. Malta outrebounded Harlem 46 to 27. Harlem made 11-of-53 shot attempts (20%).

To reach the championship, Malta defeated the Cut Bank Lady Wolves much to the displeasure of the home crowd. The score was 54-24.

Malta was led by Kunze, who scored 20 points, 10 rebounds, and three steals. Williamson had 12 points and five steals. Lamb had six points, six rebounds, and three steals. Anderson had six points, four rebounds, and four steals.

"We all played together as a team," Anderson said. "We executed our offense and defense really well."

The Lady Wolves scored the opening bucket of the game, but Malta would take the lead early in the quarter and held on to it for the rest of the game. Malta outscored Cut Bank in each period of the game; 14-7 in the first, 12-7 in the second, 17-5 in the third, and 11-5 in the fourth. The M-ettes ended the game with their highest lead, 30 points.

Malta had 16 steals against Cut Bank and forced 22 turnovers.

In their opening win over Shelby, the M-ettes were led by Kunze who had 13 points and eight rebounds. French had seven points. Anderson had six points, Williamson, Lamb, and Arena Neibur each scored four points.