M-ettes Win Streak at Seven

The Malta M-ettes basketball team posted a pair of solid wins over District 2B opponents last week.

The M-ettes defeated the Harlem Wildcats 70-26 in Harlem on Thursday, January 19. Then the team hosted the Wolf Point Lady Wolves and won 61-36.

The M-ettes were scheduled to play Havre in Malta on Tuesday, January 24, in Malta at 7:30 p.m. Coverage of that game will be in next week's PCN. The M-ettes will also face the Glasgow Lady Scotties on Thursday, January 26, at 7:30 p.m. The game against Glasgow will also serve as Malta High School's Senior Night and Little Mustang Night.

In Malta's win over Wolf Point, Malta was led by seniors Maddie Williamson and Allison Kunze who both scored 18 points. Williamson also had nine rebounds, seven steals, and three assists. Kunze had six rebounds, five assists, and three steals.

"I think that we just all had a lot of energy and we were all excited for each other and that is how we got through this one," Kunze said.

Addy Anderson had eight points, four rebounds and three steals.

The M-ettes made 24-of-50 (48%) shots that they attempted and 6-of-14 (42%) of their three point shots. Malta scored 18 points off of the 27 turnovers that they forced. They also scored 20 second chance points.

Shots were not falling into the net for Malta in the first quarter, and the team fell behind 14-11. The team was able to recover in the remaining quarters, outscoring the Lady Wolves 50-22 in the last three periods.

"I think that encouragement from each other helped a lot," Williamson said. "If someone was down, hyping them back up and telling them that we can do it."

In Malta's win over Harlem, the M-ettes outscored the Lady Cats 25-4 in the first quarter,14-5 in the second quarter, 21-7 in the third quarter, and both teams had 10 points in the fourth quarter.

Kunze led the M-ettes with a 15 point, 12 rebound double-double.

Williamson had 11 points, six rebounds, five assists, and two steals. Anderson had 10 points, six rebounds, and two steals. Emree Stuart had eight points, Kelbee Nelson had eight points, and Denvyr Tuss had five points and six rebounds.

"We had a lot of energy," Williamson said. "And we just played together really well, hyping each other up."

With the postseason approaching in less than a month, Kunze was asked what the team should improve on.

"Our energy," Kunze said. "Not getting down on each other. I think we are going to keep improving throughout these weeks. We are excited for tournaments and we are ready to go back to state."