M-ettes place fourth after going 2-2 at State

The Malta M-ettes season ended where many teams would've liked, on Saturday evening of the 2020 State B Girls Basketball Tournament at MetraPark in Billings.

The M-ettes went 2-2 at state, placing fourth at the event following a 46-24 loss in the consolation finals to the Roundup Panthers.

The M-ettes kicked off their week in Billings with a 61-45 win over the Missoula-Loyola by breaking the Breakers Hearts. The Breakers were last year's co-champion with Forsyth in the shortened 2020 State B Tourney in Butte.

Malta would go on to lose their semi-final match against the Big Timber (Sweetgrass County) Sheepherders on Friday night. The score was 56-43. The Herders eventually went on to become the State B Champions on Saturday night, defeating Columbus 46-26 in the title game.

"Honestly, they are a tough team," Senior Captain Erica Smith told the PCN. "We knew that going in, and they just outworked us a little bit. It was hard but we played hard. Things just weren't clicking like they usually were and that was hard on us."

Malta went on to face and defeat the Eureka Lions 73-51 in the consolation semifinals on Saturday morning, earning them a chance to compete for third place.

In Malta's consolation semifinal win over Eureka, the M-ette offense exploded for 42 points in the second half while holding the Lions to 20. The teams were tied 31 each at the half.

"We were working together pretty well in the second half," Smith said. "We knew that we wanted it; to get into that third-fourth place spot because we couldn't get into the championship. We were hungry for a win and wanted to bounce back from last night."

Malta was led by junior Justine Lamb who had 15 points. Allie Kunze had 13 points, Addy Anderson had 12 points, Kylie Hunter had 11 points, Kylee Nelson had nine points, Erica Smith had six points, Maddie Williamson had four points, and Brylee French had three points.

In Malta's final game later against Roundup, the M-ettes struggled to score, going 9-of-33 (27.3%) from two-point range and 1-of-15 from beyond the arc (6.67%). Malta was led by Lamb who had eight points and six rebounds. Kunze had seven points and four rebounds. Nelson had five points. Williamson had two points and Anderson had two points.

The M-ettes were ahead 11-4 by the end of the first quarter in their semifinal loss to Big Timber, then the Herders took the lead midway through the second quarter thanks to an 11-2 run. The Herders outscored Malta 22-9 in the second quarter. Malta tried to fight back in the third quarter keeping pace and outsourcing Big Timber 14-13, but Big Timber eventually put the game away in the fourth quarter with a 17-9 run.

In their opening win over Missoula Loyola, the M-ettes held the Breakers to four points in the fourth, while picking up eight. Malta also outscored the Breakers 25-13 in the fourth quarter. Malta led by as much as 16 points.

"When we played Loyola, we knew that we would have to get out to shooters, work as a team and communicate through all of the screens that they were doing and all of the cuts," team co-captain Kylie Hunter said. "I feel like being there and working together was our main goal."

Allie Kunze led all scorers with 14 points. She also had eight rebounds and three steals. Lamb had 12 points and five rebounds.