Lady Mavericks Earn Chance To Defend Title at State

The North Country Mavericks won their second consecutive Eastern C Divisional crown on Saturday, March 2, as they defeated the Plentywood LadyCats 55-23 in the Eastern C Championship game in Glasgow.

To reach the championship game, the Lady Mavs defeated the Savage Lady Warriors 66-16 in the opening round of the tournament on Thursday, February 29 and Bainville 52-21 in the semifinals on Friday, March 1.

In winning the divisional title, the Lady Mavericks have also earned a chance to defend their 2023 State C Title.

"That has been the goal to start, for sure," Mavericks Head Coach Amber Erickson said.

The 2024 State C Tournament will be held in Great Falls at the Four Seasons Arena from Thursday, March 7 to Saturday, March 9.

The Mavericks enter the final weekend of play 26-0 this season and are currently on a 51 game win streak. They will Roberts, who defeated Custer-Hysham 74-41 in a challenge game last Monday. The Lady Mavericks' opening game is also the opening game of the girls' tournament at noon on Thursday.

In their Eastern C championship win over Plentywood, Teagan Erickson led with 16 points, eight rebounds, six assists, and two steals. Paige Wasson had 12 points, four assists, four steals, and two rebounds. Shelbi LaBrie had 10 points, six rebounds, and four steals. Kendall Scheffelmear had six points, four assists, four steals, and three rebounds. BaiLee McColly had six points. Gracie Wasson had three points. Josie Brown had two points.

The Mavericks were 22-of-35 (63%) from two-point range, 2-of-9 (22.2%) from three-point range, and they made 5-of-7 (71%) of their free throw attempts. North Country forced 25 turnovers and scored 23 points off of those turnovers.

The Lady Mavs outscored Plentywood 14-7 in the first quarter, 10-9 in the second quarter, 14-4 in the third quarter, and 17-3 in the fourth quarter.

Wasson and Erickson tied for the team lead in their semifinal win over Bainville. Both athletes had 14 points. Wasson had four rebounds, and five steals. Erickson had four blocks.

"I thought our defense was pretty solid," Coach Erickson said. "We can play a little bit of zone, we can play a little bit of man, and I just feel like our kids are all just defensively sound."

LaBrie had nine points, three rebounds, and three steals. B. McColly had six points, four rebounds, and three steals. Brown had five points, two assists, and two steals. Scheffelmear had four points, nine rebounds, and four assists.

"On the offensive side of things, we were missing a lot of our mismatches and I was really happy with our ball movement, and our ability to use our height and our mismatches," Coach Erickson said. "We were finally able to make some solid passes into kids when they were sealing."

The Mavericks were 17-of-34 (50%) from two-point range. The team scored 24 points off of the 25 turnovers that they forced.

The Lady Mavs outscored Bainville 14-0 in the first quarter. Bainville's offense found its rhythm in the second quarter scoring 14 points, while North Country had 15. The Mavs' defense held Bainville to six points in the third quarter and one in the fourth quarter. The Mavericks scored 13 points in the third quarter and 10 in the fourth quarter.

The win over the Bulldogs marked North Country's 50th win in a row.

"We don't talk a lot about our win streak because all we are worried about right now is Plentywood tomorrow night," Erickson said last Friday. "It has been a very amazing and special ride with what these kids have accomplished."

This senior class is 96-4 in their high school career.

"Which is amazing," Coach Erickson said. "They are great athletes but they have also put a lot of time and work into becoming great basketball players."

Wasson led the Mavericks in their win over Savage. She had 25 points, five steals, four rebounds, four assists, two steals, and two blocks. Erickson had 15 points, eight rebounds, two steals, and two blocks. LaBrie had nine points, three rebounds, and two assists. Gracie Wasson had five points. Scheffelmear had four points and seven rebounds. Emerson Downing had three points. Brown had two points and six rebounds.