Lady Mavs, Mustangs Head to Divisionals

The North Country Lady Mavericks and Malta Mustangs Basketball teams have had the week off, but both squads head into their respective division tournaments this weekend with hopes of reaching state.

Lady Mavericks

The Lady Mavericks have been dominant this season with a 20-0 record. This weekend, the Mavericks wont be the only undefeated team in the building. The Plentywood Wildcats are the 2C Champions and also has a 20-0 record. Both teams are on opposite sides of the Eastern C Divisional Tournament bracket. The tournament is set to start on Wednesday, March 1, in Wolf Point.

Only two Eastern C teams will advance to the State C Tournament in Billings on Wednesday, March 8 through Saturday, March 11.

The Mavericks will open the tournament against the Mon-Dak (Westby Grenora) Thunder on Wednesday at 3 p.m.

"They are a scrappy team that likes to penetrate and get to the rim or shoot the three," Coach Erickson said. "We have been working on talking about how we plan to defend them. We definitely have a size advantage on them and should be able to contest but contain them in their offense. I think our full court defensive pressure could also cause some problems for them."

If North Country can defeat Mon-Dak in the first round, Coach Erickson believes that Culbertson will reach the semifinals.

"They have some size and solid players," Coach Erickson said. "They like to play more of a half court game and they play a 2-3 zone. I think our speed and pressure could definitely make them uncomfortable."

On the other side of the bracket is Plentywood, who Coach Erickson believes is probably the favorite.

"They have great athletes and they shoot the ball well," she said. "Scobey, Circle and Froid-Lake are the other teams on that side of the bracket and I think there could be some excellent games at our Divisional Tournament! We are ready to go and can't wait to get back out on the court!

Mustangs

Malta will face the Rocky Boy Northern Stars in the opening round of the Northern B Divisional Tournament in Shelby. Only two of eight Northern B teams will move on to the State B Boys Tournament in Great Falls on Thursday, March 9 through Saturday, March 11.

Malta has defeated Rocky Boy in both of their previous meetings. Malta won 53-48 in their matchup in early January and 73-53 in their second matchup in early February.

"Rocky Boy is a team that is pretty explosive offensively," Malta Head Coach David Costin said. "If we come out and do our job; Defend, rebound, not give up second chance opportunities and easy baskets, and execute... I think that we are going to be okay."

Coach Costin knows that the team has to play better than they did at the 2B District Tournament, where the Mustangs were defeated 68-64 by Wolf Point in the 2B Championship on Saturday, February 18.

"Going into that divisional tournament, we cannot make the silly unforced errors and turnovers that we have been making because there is not a lot of leeway anymore," Coach Costin said.

Depending on the outcome of the first game, Malta will matchup with either the Fairfield Eagles or Glasgow Scotties. Fairfield is the District 1B Champion.

"Fairfield is a very disciplined, very physical team that does not make a lot of mistakes," Coach Costin said. "We have similar styles but Fairfield is a little more deliberate at what they do on both ends of the floor."

After their District 2B Championship loss, Coach Costin told the team that they are sitting in the same position that they were last season, after losing the 2B title (last year to Harlem).

"We have been here before and it is not a big deal," Coach Costin said. "We just gotta go play. You have to beat them all anyway to get where you want to go."