Malta sweeps at Jamboree

The Malta Middle School Jamboree teams performed well in their home event last Saturday, November 16, at the Malta High School Gymnasium and Old Gym.

The Malta Eighth Grade Girls' team defeated Wolf Point 36-33 and Poplar 44-26. Before Saturday, Malta had lost to Poplar twice.

The Malta Seventh Grade Girls' team defeated Glasgow 44-10 in their first action of the day and the Scobey team 43-25 later that day.

In the eighth graders' win over Wolf Point, Malta was led by Anna Harms who had 11 points. Addison Ulrich had five two-point field goals for 10 points. Giona Lamb had six points, Cede Mayers had five and Elly Anderson had four.

The teams would remain close prior to an eight-point swing in Wolf Point's favor in the second quarter, WP would outscore Malta 13-5 thanks to their press in the second quarter, going up 17-11 at the half.

"They are really tall and they are pretty good shooters," Elly said when asked about Wolf Point.

Malta's defense would flip the tables in the third quarter as the team pressed back thanks to adjustments made by the team and Coach Caitlin Anderson.

"We switched up our press breaker but our defensive intensity picked up," Tova Anderson said.

Malta held Wolf Point to one field goal and one free throw in the third while scoring 14 in the third. The score after three quarters was 25-20 in favor of Malta.

The Lady Wolves would have a strong run in the fourth, scoring 13, but Malta would add 11 to their tally, with many of those points coming by second-chance buckets.

Before Saturday, the Malta girls hadn't had a win over Poplar all season, losing both times the teams had clashed. This time around Malta won 44-26.

"We (had) never beaten them," Tova said. "They are really tall. Our defense is going to get us the win."

Malta was led by Harms and E. Anderson who each scored 13 points. T. Anderson and Ulrich netted six points each. Lamb had four points and Mayer had two points.

The score at halftime was 20-19 in favor of Malta, but in the second half Malta held Poplar to seven points by two made field goals and a few free throws.

Malta's offense rolled scoring 17 points in the third and seven in the fourth.

As for the seventh-grade team, they outscored Scobey 29-12 in the first half of the game and 14-13 in the second. The team's most dominant period came in the fourth when they held Scobey to two points.

The team was led by Eva Yeadon who scored 12 points. Kyann Bergos and Charlie Carnahan each had eight points. Macey Blunt had seven points. Brittney Sorlie, Danika Wilke, and Leila Domire each had a two-point field goal.

Yeadon was asked what the key to their win over Scobey was.

"I think rebound and taking care of the ball was a part of it as well as staying tough throughout the game," Yeadon said.

Earlier that day, the Malta Seventh Graders defeated Glasgow with a stingy defense that held Glasgow to one point in the first quarter and no points in the fourth quarter. The end score was 44-10.

Yeadon led Malta with 14 points. Wilke had 10 points. Carnahan and Bergos both netted six points. Blunt had four points. Sorlie and Domire each had two points.