Lady Mavs fall in Wolf Point

The Eastern C Tournament was the final stop for the North Country Lady Mavericks as the team went 1-2 in Wolf Point, eventually losing an elimination game to Scobey last Saturday, February 24.

The Lady Mavericks saw themselves falling behind 26-2 to the Froid-Medicine Lake Redhawks after the first period of their opening game on Thursday, February 22. Unfortunately, the team was unable to claw back into the game.

"We were pretty much on the defensive end the entire first quarter," Lady Mavericks Head Coach Amber Erickson said. "We knew that they were going to put a press on us and we tried to prepare for it mentally but it was like a buzz saw. It hit us hard and we didn't adjust very well. We didn't make good decisions and they got out to a real fast start on us."

Seniors Jada Sudbrack and Mickayla Johnson led the Mavericks with seven points each. Kaitlyn McColly had four points, Kia Wasson had four points, Danika Soper had three points, Bailey Funk had three, Sydney Zeller had two points.

"They were very lengthy and we tried to throw over the top of them and that doesn't work against 6-foot long, lengthy players," Coach Erickson said.

Offensively, points were sparse for the Lady Mavericks who shot less than forty attempts, while Froid-Medicine Lake shot fifty-five shots.

"You have got to knock down shots to stay in games," Coach Erickson said. "You have got to take care of the basketball. We couldn't get a bucket and we didn't always take care of the basketball. It's hard to win games against good teams when those two things are happening."

The Lady Mavericks went on to defeat the Fairview Warriors 40-38, thanks in part to a game-winning shot from Sudbrack who led North Country with 21 points. Johnson had six points and ten rebounds, Bailey Funk had five points and nine rebounds, Wasson had five points and McColly had three points.

After a rough start offensively, the Lady Mavericks clawed back from a 23-14 deficit at halftime, outscoring Fairview 13-3 in the third quarter and 13-12 in the fourth.

"That was a pretty fun game actually," Coach Erickson said. "We played flat and weren't making passes in the first half and we were really timid."

A meeting at halftime worked wondered for the team.

"We talked to them at halftime about getting after it a little bit more and we made some adjusts and the girls fought back really hard and got back into it and we were able to pull away and squeak out that win," Coach Erickson said.

In the team's loss to Scobey in the elimination semi-finals, the Lady Spartans made it to the charity stripe for 33 attempts and made 17 shots. The Mavericks were eight-of-nine from the free throw line.

The Lady Mavericks were led by Johnson who had 16 points and nine rebounds. McColly had twelve points, Sudbrack had 11 points, and Wasson had six points.