M-ettes second at State

The Malta M-ettes' 2016-2017 campaign ended with the M-ettes losing their second game of the season 34-33 to the Fairfield Eagles in the State B Championship last Saturday night in Billings.

The M-ettes had defeated the third place Red Lodge Rams in the semi-finals on last Friday night at the MetraPark Arena. They also defeated the Three Forks Wolves 62-59 in the opening round of the State B Tournament. The Wolves took third place in the State Tournament by defeating the Rams, who took fourth on Saturday night.

In the Championship game, senior Sophia Stiles, who was named the 2016-17 Gatorade Montana girls basketball Player of the Year last Monday led Malta with 22 points, six rebounds, four steals and two blocks. Jada Nicholson had seven points, seven rebounds and three steals. Stiles and Nicholson were selected as State B Girls' All-Tournament Team first teamers. Eva Harms was named to the All-Conference second team list.

"Our game plan was to try to keep Klinker from beating us," Malta Head Coach Nate Hammond said. "I think they did a pretty good job on that. They just made enough three pointers to win. They did a good job defensively, they were in the man defense but they sagged so much in the key that they kept us from getting to the rim."

Fairfield was led by Allix Goldhahn, who scored 17 points. She had four treys including a game winning trey late in the fourth quarter. Kaitlyn Jones had nine points. Natalie Klinker had four points and 14 rebounds.

"They took care of the ball well enough to not have a lot of turnovers and that was all they needed," Coach Hammond said. "We had an off night especially around the basket and you can't have those in games like this."

With Malta's season ending, the team graduates a class that was able to accomplish numerous accolades for Malta High School, including two Class B Titles, two runner up Class B Titles and three Divisional Titles along with 100 wins and four losses over four seasons.

"Malta's had a lot of good tradition," Coach Hammond said. "Probably the best tradition in the state of Montana for girls basketball. These five seniors have been a part of a program that for the last four years have played in four state championship games. They won two of the four but I don't think that's happened in Malta history before."

Coach Hammond had become Head Coach of the M-ettes during the senior class' freshman season that ended in a double-overtime loss to Fairfield four seasons ago in 2014. They went on to win state the next two seasons and were one field goal away from a three-peat last Saturday.

"I am so proud of these kids," Coach Hammond said. The community is proud of these kids. Their parents are proud of them. Everybody is proud of them. They won a lot of games and they lost a few."

Coach Hammond went on to say what the team talked about after the loss.

"I told these kids that they turn the lights off in these gyms at night," Coach Hammond said. "Those kids are going to go on and be in track, go to college and do other things in life and they are always going to be successful kids and part of the reason is probably that they didn't win every single time. They know what success is and they know how hard it is to come by sometimes."

Malta had gained the lead in the first half thanks in part to a near half court buzzer beater from Stiles that gave Malta a 11-9 lead at the end of the period.

Malta's defense would hold Fairfield's offense to a five point output in the second quarter, when the M-ettes scored 11 more points giving them a 22-14 lead at the half.

Malta's offense putters in the third quarter, netting two of their points by way of a Stiles fast break layup and one by way of a Nicholson free throw. Fairfield was able to close the gap and tie the game thanks to a eight point run that would tie the game 25 all.

With Klinker leaving the game in foul trouble late in the third, Malta was unable to score.

Malta would go up by two thanks to a steal and fast break layup by Stiles, 27-25 Malta. Fairfield would tie it back up with a layup by Kaitlyn Jones.

Jones would beat Malta inside the paint for another bucket, giving Fairfield the lead 29-27.

Stiles was able to grab a steal minutes later and tie the game again for Malta. Jones would respond with a put back, giving Fairfield a 31-29 lead. Stiles would sink a free throw attempt after drawing a foul on a fast break layup attempt. The score was 31-30.

Stiles would get back to the line with a little more than two minutes and thirty seconds remaining. She would make both attempts, putting Malta back up 32-30. A Fairfield free throw would cut into Malta's lead.

Harms would take a hit while setting a pick, sending her to the line for one and one free throws. She would make the first and miss the second. Putting Malta up 33-31.

Goldhahn stepped out far behind the perimeter and unleashed the game's final points despite a near block by Nicholson, putting Fairfield up 34-31 with 41.4 seconds remaining.

Malta got the ball back with 6 seconds remaining thanks to a heads up rebound by Nicholson.

After the timeout Nicholson and a Fairfield player collided while Nicholson was going for a pass in the paint, Malta was awarded the ball but no foul was called. There was still 1.1 seconds remaining.

Stiles attempted to bounce the ball off of a seemingly unaware Klinker who then wrapped around Stiles but was quick enough to block the shot attempt, winning the game for the Eagles.

In Malta's win over Red Lodge, Stiles led the M-ettes with 26 points, while Nicholson had 10 points. Shay Garfield had seven points.

In their opening win over Three Forks, Nicholson led Malta with 25 points and nine rebounds. Stiles had 20 points, nine rebounds and seven assists. Kyleigh Schipman had five points and one trey. Harms, Garfield and Ella Schye had four points each.

"No one was out guarding me so I decided to shoot it," Schipman said of her three pointer. "You just gotta let it fly."

Though it was her first state game with significant playing time, Schipman overcame the atmosphere that gave her jitters.

"Maybe in the beginning but once I started playing, I felt like I was out there like any other game," Schipman said.

Raleigh Hunter shared her thoughts on her first state win as a starter.

"It feels really good," Hunter said. "There was definitely a lot of teamwork that was put into this game to come out with the win. I think we did a good job. We came here to win and we weren't going to settle for anything less."