Former M-ette Hein leads Dogies to first state trophy

If you were at the 2015 Class B Tournament or listening to the game against the Forsyth Dogies, you may have heard a name or seen a face that was familiar.

That name and face was that of Terri Hein (Wiederrick) an insurance adjuster, who is also the head coach of the Dogies and has been for seven years.

Hein, the daughter of Ross and Karen Wiederrick was born and raised here in Malta with sisters Traci Glasscock and Sidney Nelson and brother Frank.

“My folks still live in town, so we’re their a few times a year,” Terri Hein said. “I enjoy going back and seeing my friends.”

She graduated from Malta High School in 1987 and was a standout basketball player in her time as an M-ette under legendary coach Del Fried.

“He was the one that got it going,” Hein said. “In the middle of the 80’s is when we got really good and they (the M-ettes) have been good since then. There have been a lot of good players that have come through there (Malta).”

Since 1983, the Malta M-ettes have been to the state championship game 16 times or 50 percent of the time.

“When I was in high school, we placed second at the state tournament my senior year,” Hein. “We lost to Chinook that year.”

After graduation Hein would go on to Eastern Montana College (now Montana State University Billings), to play center for the Yellowjackets.

She is in the school’s hall of fame.

“When I was in my senior year, my college team was pretty good. We were 25-5,” Hein said.

Since Hein has played ball for Malta, there have been many rule changes, like the installation of the three point line.

“They’re talking about putting a shot clock in, which I think would be really good,” Hein said.

She knows that today even the play of the athletes has improved tremendously.

“I think the play is quite a bit better,” Hein said. “I think it’s 20 to 30 points better. The defenses are better, the coaching is better. Kids work in the off-season more with weight training with a lot of emphasis on people getting their kids to play while they are young.”

Hein also noted that female players play closer to male players than they did in her high school career.

“They play more like boys than they used to,” Hein said. “They’ll knock a three down then they’ll put it on the hardwood and take it to the rack.”

Naturally, when Hein was pitted against her alma mater for the second time in her coaching career, it was a little awkward.

“It was a very tough loss last night,” Hein said after her team lost to the M-ettes in the 2015 State B semi-finals. “We set our sights on that and we knew they were good but we knew we could win.”

She admitted they had a few chances to win, but they couldn’t get it done.

“Nicholson (Hailey) stepped up and hit those free throws, so good for her,” Hein said.

She and Nicholson’s father Chad were classmates at Malta high together.

“So was Sophie’s mom, I played with Kaydel,” Hein said. “I was also happy for Nate (Hammond). I think Nate is doing a great job. But I was sad for us.”

Though Hein had good and not so pleasant emotions on the outcome, Hein knows her team will be back in the mix for a championship run again.

“We will have other chances, we’ve got good, young kids and I think we will be right in the thick of it and of course we’re going to want to beat ‘em,” Hein said.

Hein has a daughter, Laura who is a junior this year and a basketball player for Forsyth. She also has an eighth grade son Carson, who stands 6’6” tall. She also has a daughter in the sixth grade that was the team’s manager last season.

Though she is now a Class B opponent to Malta, she has taken one thing from being an M-ette.

“I really think it’s the winning mentality,” Hein said. “When I started at Forsyth, we didn’t win a game my first year.”

Now in her seventh year, not only did the Dogies have a near perfect season, with their only loss coming from Malta, they fought hard to overcome every remaining opponent in the 2015 State B Tourney and won the third place trophy, which is the first plaque for the team in the school’s history.

“This is the first state trophy in girls basketball that they’ve ever gotten,” Hein said. “We’re still trying to get there. Malta is the gold standard but we’re hoping that one of these times we will get ‘em and knock em off.”