M-ettes crush Poplar, Shelby

The Malta M-ettes basketball team posted a pair of wins last weekend. They are currently on an eight-game win streak and are 8-1 this season.

The M-ettes defeated the Poplar Lady Indians 78-36 on Friday, January 14, in Poplar. They then defeated the Shelby Lady Coyotes 66-29 on Saturday, January 15, in Malta's first home game of the calendar year.

"It feels pretty great," M-ette Co-Captain Lauren Tuss said when asked about playing at the MHS Gymnasium. "We haven't played here a lot, so it's good to get rolling in our own gym, and get rolling here, where we have a bigger crowd and get the community involved."

The M-ettes are scheduled to face the Harlem Lady Wildcats on Thursday, January 20, in Malta, at 6:30 p.m. They will then host the Wolf Point Lady Wolves on Saturday, January 22, at 6 p.m. The game will serve as Malta's Senior Night.

In Malta's win over Shelby, the team posted a dominant first half in which they outscored Shelby 18-7 in the first quarter and 27-3 in the second.

Malta was led by Allison Kunze who had 16 points, seven rebounds, and four assists. Maddie Williamson had 14 points and eight steals.

"We just really moved the ball around well and shared the ball with one extra pass," M-ette Captain Brylee French told the PCN. "We really shot the ball well tonight and played some good defense. We put our foot on the gas and kept it there."

Justine Lamb had eight points, seven rebounds, and four steals. Addy Anderson and Brylee French had seven points each. Ten of eleven M-ettes scored in the win.

Malta had 34 rebounds, while Shelby had 20. Eighteen of Malta's rebounds were offensive. They scored 30 second-chance points. The M-ettes forced 24 turnovers and scored 32 points off of those turnovers.

In Malta's win over Poplar, Malta was led by Kunze who had a double-double consisting of 21 points and 17 rebounds.

"We worked well as a team, we made sure that we shared the ball well amongst our teammates, and we made sure that we kept pushing together as a team," Tuss said.

Anderson had 15 points and three rebounds. Lamb had 12 points, six steals, five rebounds, and four assists. Williamson had 12 points, six steals, five rebounds, and four assists. French had eight points, five rebounds, and four assists.

Malta had 58 rebounds in the win and 29 second-chance points.

The M-ettes are on a winning streak, but there are things that they can improve on.

"Sometimes we get stuck in a rut, and then have a little breakdown and have a little run of turnovers," French said. "We are trying to clean that up a little bit."