Mavs win P.C. clash

The North Country Mavericks had a solid end to their two game weekend after defeating the Dodson Lady Coyotes 61-35 in Dodson. The Lady Mavericks had previously lost a 47-46 heartbreaker to Scobey on Friday, January 6. Dodson had previously had a rough outing against Winnett-Grass Range and Roy-Winifred on Thursday, games they lost 55-15 and 66-29 respectively.

In the clash of Phillips County teams, the first quarter featured solid defense from both teams as the Lady Coyotes proved that they could hang with the taller Maverick team. The end of the first quarter score was 8-6 in favor of the Lady Coyotes.

"I was just so proud of them," Dodson Head Coach Deserae Kill Eagle said. "To actually see the result of how hard they worked, they were feeling good."

From the Mavericks' perspective things weren't so blissful.

"We were feeling shaky, but we were feeling a lot more pumped up in the second half," Maverick junior Mickayla Johnson said. "After we got our flow going, I had no worries and knew we were going to get it."

The lead wouldn't last long as the Lady Mavs went on a 25-5 run in the second quarter.

"We just wanted to move the ball like we had been working on all week and (we played) good defense," Maverick senior Kaleigh Cummings said.

Jada Sudbrack led the Mavericks with 15 points. Casity Boucher would score 11 points and Mickayla Johnson would score 10.

"Dodson lacked a lot of height on us and so we were able to use that to our advantage," Johnson said. "Their 2-3 zone we were able to draw them out with our runner offense. We really just moved the ball fast enough to break down their defense and get those open opportunities."

The Mavericks took their foot off the gas the rest of the night thanks in part to how physical the game was for both teams. The Mavs outscored Dodson 16-11 and 14-11 in the third and fourth quarters respectively.

Dodson's Melony Fetter had a strong outing racking up 20 points and Donna Dale added seven points.

After such a strong start to the game against North Country, the Lady Coyotes weren't able to keep up. The PCN talked to Coach Deserae Kill Eagle after the game.

"We got into foul trouble," she said. "The girls were doing so good. I told them I had no other expectations from them other than to work hard. When they work hard everything else comes along with it. We started off that way. We were in the lead in the first quarter."

She went on to say the team talked about the loss after the game and the game was a lesson.

"It took one or two minutes for North Country to get up by 14 and then 20," Coach Kill Eagle said. "They're improving every game and the score didn't reflect what our girls were doing, considering it was the first game of the year."

Coach Kill Eagle approved of her team's effort in the loss.

"I was proud of how hard they worked," she said. "They couldn't hang their heads because they knew they worked hard. They didn't give up. I told them that each game is just an assignment leading up onto our big test at the end of the season."

In North Country's loss to Scobey, the Mavericks were up to a ten point lead late into the game but Scobey would eventually go on to outscore North Country 13-6 in the fourth and win 47-46.

"We played really great until the last two minutes," Cummings said. "We kind of got flustered and let it go. They hit two threes on us and tied the game."

Eventually, Scobey's Kortney Nelson, a freshmen, would draw a foul at the buzzer and sink one of her two free-throws to win the game. Nelson had 17 points.