M-ettes receive all-conference honors after big year

The Malta M-ettes have had a tremendous year that included a 26-0 record and a state title. The team played hard and did so selflessly, as shown by the amount of first-team all conference athletes honored this year.

While many teams hope to see one or two athletes make the list, Malta had four athletes make the list this season, including seniors Hailey Nicholson and Marley Manoukian and juniors Sophia Stiles and Jada Nicholson.

In hopes of learning more about these athletes the PCN contacted M-ette Head Coach Nate Hammond, who praised the team for their efforts this season.

H. Nicholson and Stiles headlined the list earning all state and first team honors, but the duo also received honors that could be seen throughout the state as Stiles was named this year’s Montana Gatorade Basketball Player of the Year and Nicholson was named Class B State Tournament MVP.

J. Nicholson was selected as a first team all conference athlete as well. Manoukian was named as a second team all conference athlete.

H. Nicholson, a University of Montana Lady Griz commit had a tremendous year and was a force to be reckoned with at the 2016 State B Tournament. She had a 16 point, 10 rebound double-double in the team’s championship win against Fairfield. She also had a strong 23 point, seven rebound outing against Shepherd in the semi-final round.

“She definitely had a good tournament and was one of the major reasons we were able to win,” Coach Hammond told the PCN.

Though Hailey had already been a starter for Coach Hammond in every game he’s coached in Malta, he has seen growth in Hailey this season.

“For one, she became more of a physical player,” he said. “She rebounded better this year, was able to defend inside for us better. She also became a better shooter this year.”

Hailey was right at 52 percent from the field this season, with many of those shots from right around 15 feet.

“From fifteen feet out, she was one of our better shooters,” Coach Hammond said. “Offensively and defensively she improved.”

Nicholson also showed some serious range outside the perimeter in the State B tournament. She was five-of-nine on the season.

“She doesn’t get out there that often but when she does she can definitely shoot out there,” Coach Hammond said.

More than just a player that produced, Hailey was praised as a leader.

“She also became a little bit more of a leader for us, becoming a senior she just stepped up in the leadership role as well,” Coach Hammond said.

Since Stiles started her first game with Malta, the M-ettes have only lost two of seventy-eight games they’ve played, including their current 52 game winning streak started in the 2014-15 season.

“I thought Sophie had a great state tournament,” Coach Hammond said. “She came out that first game against Bigfork and really set the tone for us.”

Stiles had 27 points, three steals and three assists.

“All these teams know Sophie, even if they’re on the far corner of the state, they know who she is; winning that Gatorade Player of the Year and everything,” Coach Hammond said. “So the game plan of those teams are to try to slow her down and try to get in front of her which does make it tough but despite that she still had a good tournament and we definitely wouldn’t have won without her in those close games.”

Coach Hammond also praised Stiles’ defensive prowess.

“She’s such a force on defense that we can kind of dictate what they’re going to do offensively by just putting her out there on the ball-handler,” he said. “She takes a lot of teams out of their offense just by her defensive ability.”

Jada Nicholson slipped right into her starting role this season despite not seeing starting time last year. She was second in blocked shots with 15 and third in scoring. She also came up huge in the State B Championship win scoring 12 points, grabbing six rebounds and blocking two shots.

“Jada is another first team player that had a really good year,” Coach Hammond said. “She had 228 points and 109 rebounds.”

She shares many of the same attributes that her sister Hailey has, size, speed reach and impressive ball handling skills.

“Her length and her size make her a very good defender as well,” Coach Hammond said. “She got to the free throw line really well and was a good free throw shooter.”

There were times where Jada looked like a wide receiver on the court.

“Her ability to be on the offensive glass and to run the floor, catch and finish with the ball for a 5’11” girl makes her very, very good,” Coach Hammond said. “It makes our whole team a lot better when they have to worry about her as well.”

Marley Manoukian is deceptively quick and was a very reliable defender, pass distributor and long range shooter for Malta this season.

“Marley’s definitely been if not our main leader, she’s been one of our leaders for the past two years,” Coach Hammond said. “She’s just got a winning personality and competitiveness that brings everyone around her up.”

“She is such a great teammate and great competitor that she’s going to be hard to lose off of our team,” Coach Hammond said. “We’re so used to having that spiritual leader out there and she just does a great job of that.”

Manoukian made quite a few big shots for the team during their title runs.

“She always seemed to make big shots,” Coach Hammond said. “I’ll remember Marley making a big shot last year against Forsyth and I’ll remember her making big shots in the state tournament. She’s so competitive that she will make these big shots and when things aren’t going well, she totally steps up with a play and will make a big play of some kind. We will miss that. She is a great player and a great kid.”

Manoukian displayed a beautiful high arching shot, which always looked like it will fall through.

“When she makes it, she doesn’t hit the rim, it goes right through,” Coach Hammond said. “There is nobody that works harder than Marley. It rubs off on all of the other players. She’s a huge part of our success that we’ve had.”

So how good was this year’s M-ette team? Many have said in terms of talent, this was the best M-ettes team Malta has produced.

Even so, Malta needed every opportunity that came their way to yield a repeat season. Because nothing was given to them, it was earned.

“To kind of bring to light how difficult it is to repeat a state champion, I look at the four teams that played Saturday night, for first, second, third and fourth this year at the tournament and we were the only team that was even at the state tournament last year,” Coach Hammond said. “So, it’s hard to get back to the state tournament, let alone repeat a state champion.”

Those teams that played Saturday night were Malta, runner-up Fairfield, third place St. Labre and fourth place Shepherd.

“I just want to say that we’re so fortunate to have the support of the community and the great cheering section that we had,” Coach Hammond said. “Down on the floor it was so loud. When the announcer would get the (Malta) crowd fired up it would just give you goose bumps. I know the kids really enjoyed the support they got.”

He also mentioned that he would always have fond memories of the Butte Civic Center because of the experience that he and the team had there.