M-ettes Repeat as Class B Champs

The Malta M-ettes are back to back state champions for the first time since the 1999 and 2000 titles. The team outlasted the Fairfield Eagles, defeating them for the third time this season in the 2016 State B Championship Game last Saturday Night in Butte, Mont., at the Civic Center. The final score was 49-47.

Though going into the State B as the Northern B Champions, Malta still was pitted against Class B's only other undefeated team Shepherd in a semi-final game that Malta won 51-45 in overtime. The M-ettes also defeated Bigfork 58-42 in the opening round.

The M-ettes finished the season undefeated at 26-0, giving them a 52-0 record since the start of the 2014-15 season.

The M-ettes were led in the State Championship Game by Senior Hailey Nicholson who had 16 points, nine rebounds, three blocks, three steals and two assists.

Nicholson may have given many M-ette fans Déjà Vu as she was put in a position to close out the State B Championship game against Fairfield for the second time in her career.

Though she missed both game sealing free throw attempts in the 2014 State Title game, a game Malta lost in double overtime, this time Nicholson knocked down one of two of her last two attempts putting Malta up by four with 19.1 seconds left.

"It would have been better if I had put both of them in," Nicholson said after the game. "But you can't make them all."

Nicholson's sister junior Jada Nicholson played an important role scoring 12 points, grabbing six rebounds, and blocking two shots.

"It feels great," Jada said.

Plenty happened well before Hailey's game sealing free throw including, an offensive surge by Fairfield before halftime and a 16-1 run by Malta in the third quarter.

One of the more heartbreaking moments was when Malta's brightest star, 2015-16 Gatorade Montana Girls Basketball Player of the Year, Sophia Stiles collected her fourth and fifth foul seconds apart, leaving her watching her team from the bench with 22 seconds to go in the game with a four point lead.

"I'm so emotionally drained, from fouling out and being devastated to winning and just getting the most exciting feeling ever," Stiles said after the game. "I don't know. It just feels like I'm on top of the world right now."

Stiles scored seven points. Marley Manoukian had five points and Adrianna Bibeau had four points.

In the first quarter of the game, Malta struggled offensively only scoring 10 points, while holding Fairfield to eight.

Stiles would score Malta's first two points but that picking up two first quarter fouls put her on the bench and affected her aggressiveness.

"I just feel like it took me out of my element," Stiles said. "I'm just usually a hard defensive player so when I can't play my style of defense, it just slows me down a lot."

Malta fell behind 13-12 midway through the second quarter, but a layup by Bibeau gave Malta back the lead and the M-ettes would extend their lead to five two minutes left in the half.

The halftime lead would go to Fairfield as they were able to knockdown late free throws putting them up 25-24.

With both starting guards Stiles and Manoukian in foul trouble, Malta found themselves behind 34-29 midway through the third period.

That's when H. Nicholson, a Montana Lady Griz signee stepped up for Malta, knocking down a trey with 3:26 left in the third. On Fairfield's next possession Nicholson came away with a huge block killing any momentum Fairfield hoped to regain. On Malta's next possession, Nicholson knocked down a fade away jumper tying the game.

"I just knew that we had to get going," Hailey said. "So, I just started shooting."

She earned the praise of her M-ette teammates that shared their approval after the game.

"Hailey had ice in her veins," Jada said.

Stiles shared the sentiment.

"Hailey definitely made some huge shots for us," Stiles said of her teammate. "The girls that came off the bench played their hearts out. They played amazing."

Nicholson's effort spearheaded a 16-1 run which included a two point jump shot from her sister Jada, a clutch trey from Harms. The run would put Malta up 45-35 with 5:25 left in the game.

"I feel awesome, mostly for my girls," Harms said. "They got the championship they (we) deserved so much. I know they wanted it a lot."

Fairfield would go on a run of their own, bringing Malta's lead back down to four with 2:19 remaining.

Malta played keep away but was forced to take a late timeout before Fairfield was forced to commit two consecutive fouls putting Malta into one-and-ones.

With 1:21 remaining and the team in their first penalty shots, Stiles was the first M-ette sent to the line.

Though she struggled early, she knocked down both one-and one attempts, putting Malta up 48-42.

Fairfield would score on their following possession cutting Malta's lead to four with 40.8 seconds left.

The M-ettes would run the clock down to 28.6 seconds before Nicholson was sent to the free throw line. Both attempts failed.

Then came Stiles' fourth foul, followed by a fifth on what looked like a clean steal attempt. A timeout was called after the foul.

"We never said a word about Sophie," Coach Hammond said. "Everybody knows about it, so we don't have to talk about it. All we could talk about is what we had to do. We had to get a rebound. We had to take care of the ball, we had to make a free throw or two and we had to get out on their three point shooters."

At that moment in time, Coach Hammond wasn't concerned with the ability of his players on the court.

"We've got plenty of kids that are capable, but we just had to do that," Coach Hammond said.

On Fairfield's ensuing possession Fairfield senior Allie Steinbach drew a foul on a layup attempt. She would only knock down her first free throw attempt making the score 48-45. After her second shot Fairfield wasted no time sending H. Nicholson to the line fouling her immediately after her rebound.

Nicholson missed the first attempt but sank the second, putting Malta up 49-45 with 19.1 seconds remaining.

Steinbach would score on a layup attempt with less than five seconds remaining but all Malta had to do was hold the ball to secure a 49-47 victory.

Thankfully dreams don't always come true, as Stiles shared a dream she had over a month ago with the PCN.

"I had a dream that we lost to Fairfield in the state championship," Stiles said. "And to make things worse, not only did we lose, we had to go to (Fairfield) watch them hang their banner at their school. It was the worse feeling."

She admitted that she thought about the dream before the game.

"I was like, I don't want that feeling," Stiles said.

The M-ettes held on to defeat Shepherd last Friday night, in a game that featured an intimating 6'3" post player, Janie McRae.

During the starting lineup, 5'9" Senior Bibeau, Malta's primary post player went to shake McRae's hand.

"I was just thinking that I have to go out and play my hardest," Bibeau said. "I knew that my teammates were going to be there to help me and that it's not just me guarding her and everyone else is helping."

Though she only scored one point in the game, that point came at a crucial moment, giving Malta their first point in overtime.

"I was just like, I want to put these in," Bibeau said. "I put the first one in and then I was really jittery. As soon as I let the second one go, I knew it wasn't going in."

Bibeau also rewarded her team with a steal in that period.

"I was like dropping back like I was supposed to and I had my hand in the right place," Bibeau said.

H. Nicholson led Malta against Shepherd with a 23 point, seven rebound effort. Stiles had 14 points, eight rebounds, seven steals and four assists. J. Nicholson had seven points and six rebounds. Manoukian had five points and three rebounds. Harms had one point.

Though she didn't see much time on the court before this season, Bibeau was proud to help her team to victory last season.

"It feels good," Bibeau said. "It feels like everything I've worked for has finally come out. I've earned it."

Another M-ette that has earned playing time was Mary Grace Kalal, who saw time in the M-ettes win over Bigfork.

"It's different because this is my first year actually playing during the state tournament, so I was kind of nervous for the first couple of seconds," Kalal said. "Once I got in I was fine."

Fellow senior Manoukian, a long-time starter noticed Kalal's effort.

"She did awesome," she said.

Manoukian was asked how it felt to grab an opening win at the tournament.

"It feels really good to get the first step down and now we just have to take each game one at a time," Manoukian said. "I think we just came out with great intensity on defense. We worked really hard on offense, got great shots and really executed."

Stiles led the charge against Bigfork racking up 27 points, six rebounds, four steals and an assist. She was also four for four at the charity stripe and three of six from outside the perimeter.

Manoukian had 15 points and two steals. H. Nicholson had 10 points, seven rebounds, six steals and a block. J. Nicholson had four points, two steals and a block. Bibeau had two points and two blocks.

In the Bigfork game, Malta was blindsided by the fact that they had to wear their JV uniforms, instead of their varsity blues that they typically wear, something that many thought might discourage the team.

"I think we were all kind of worried because they're different, but we realized that it didn't matter what jerseys we had because jerseys don't win games," Kalal said.

Manoukian thought the jerseys helped.

"I think they had a little bit of luck in them," Manoukian said. "They've won a few state tournaments, so it was cool to wear them I think."

Manoukian also proved to be quite the historian, giving some info on The Butte Civic Center.

"This is the place where the M-ettes got their first title in 91," she said. "It would be really cool to get our tenth here as well."