Lady Mavericks Win 2023 State C Championship! A Perfect 26-0 Season!

For the first time in the co-op's history, the North Country Lady Mavericks, consisting of basketball players from Saco, Whitewater, Hinsdale, have won the State C Girls Championship!

The North Country Lady Mavericks defeated the Twin Bridges Lady Falcons 59-26 on Saturday, March 11, at the 2023 State C Tournament held at First Interstate Arena in Billings. The win topped off a perfect 26-0 season.

"I am extremely proud of how the girls played," Lady Mavericks Head Coach Amber Erickson told the PCN. "We got to the state tournament and they seemed very relaxed, very confident. They came out and got into a good focus and flow early on and I think we played our best basketball in the state tournament, which is exactly what you want to see out of your team."

It is also the second title for Coach Erickson, who led the Saco-Whitewater Panthers to a title in 2011.

"I think about all of the teams that I have taken to state," Coach Erickson said. "And each team is special and each team has had team members and things that they do that make them unique. I would say what stands out to me about this team is that they have played together for a lot of years since they were very young. They have great chemistry on the floor and they are very unselfish. They flow and move together really well. There was no drama with them at all. They just get along, respect each other, and have a lot of fun."

She said that they knew they needed to get after it, but it is crucial to have fun.

"If it's not fun, then it is stressful, and it should be fun," Coach Erickson said. "This group really embraced that and had a great time. Some of those games, you don't want them to end because you are having so much fun."

The Lady Mavericks did not give up more than 26 points in any game at the 2023 State C Tournament. They reached the State C Championship by defeating the Chinook Sugarbeeters 65-25 in the quarterfinals on Wednesday, March 8, and the Manhattan Christian Lady Eagles 52-25 in the semifinals on Thursday, March 9.

In the State C Girls Championship game, juniors Teagan Erickson and Paige Wasson led the Mavericks with 19 points each. Erickson had 11 rebounds, which gave her a double-double. Erickson also had three assists and two blocks. Erickson was 7-of-14 from the field and 4-of-4 from the free throw line. Wasson also had eight steals, six rebounds, and three assists. Wasson was 8-of-12 from the field and made 2-of-3 of their three-point attempts.

Coach Erickson was asked about the performance of Wasson and T. Erickson.

"I just think that they are two of the toughest player in the state, regardless of classification," Coach Erickson said. "They are pretty special players in the respect that they are so versatile. They've got some length, height, but they are also fundamentally sound and versatile as far as where you can put them on the floor. They are great scorers. They defend well, rebound well, and they have a high basketball I.Q. and can pass the ball as well."

Senior Mattea McColly had 10 points, making 5-of-6 of her shot attempts. Kendall Scheffelmear had four points, three rebounds, and two blocks. Kora LaBrie had three points, three rebounds, three assists, and two steals. Cienna Strommen had three points. Shelbi LaBrie had one point, and two rebounds. Josie Brown had two rebounds, Berkeley Hillman had one steal, and BaiLee McColly had one rebound.

The Lady Mavericks shot 19-of-37 (51%) from the field. They also made 5-of-10 (50%) of their attempts from three-point range. The team made 6-of-9 free throws. Twin Bridges was 9-of-28 (31%) from the field, and only made one of their 14 attempts from three point range (7%).

The Lady Mavericks outrebounded Twin Bridges 33-to-27. The Mavericks also won the turnover battle, forcing 24 turnovers while turning the ball over 18 times.

While Coach Erickson said that 18 turnovers were a lot for the team, she knows that many of the turnovers were due to the fact that like the Lady Mavericks, Twin Bridges loves to pressure opponents.

"They were used to getting the other teams to turn the ball over and score off of that, " Coach Erickson said. "I wasn't concerned about that and I don't feel like they are really consistent with the ability to score in the halfcourt. I felt like our players could match them player for player, and have the ability to shut down their main players as far as scoring."

"Our kids are lengthy and athletic and they play phenomenal defense," Coach Erickson continued. "Until you play against our length, athletic ability and how well we rotate defensively, I don't think that you can replicate or prepare yourself for that going into a game against us."

The Lady Mavericks scored 27 points off of turnovers, while Twin Bridges had eight points. North Country had 45 defensive stops and Twin Bridges had 31. The Lady Mavericks had seven points off of the bench and the Lady Falcons had one point. Both teams only committed 11 fouls a piece. North Country led by as much as 38 points late in the fourth quarter.

M. McColly started off the scoring in the State C Championship by grabbing an offensive rebound and putting it in off of the backboard, to give North Country a 2-0 lead. Twin Bridges responded with an open layup downcourt.

Both teams would fail to score on their next couple of possessions, but Erickson gave the Mavericks a 4-2 lead on a turnaround jump shot. After a defensive stop, S. LaBrie would find sister K. LaBrie open in the corner for a three pointer, which put the Lady Mavs up 7-2. The Falcons would score on a layup on the other side.

On the next possession, Erickson would grab a rebound, dribble outside of the perimeter and knock down a trey from NBA range, putting North Country up 10-4. Scheffelmear blocked a shot on the other end of the court. After a turnover by Twin Bridges, K. LaBrie drove the ball and found Wasson for a trey. North Country grew their lead 13-4.

Twin Bridges turned the ball over on their next three possessions and Erickson added two more points. The score, 15-4. Twin Bridges added two more points on the next possession. 15-6. Erickson would draw a shooting foul and make both attempts, Twin Bridges then scored on a three point shot with five seconds left in the first quarter. The score at the end of the quarter was 17-9.

The Lady Maverick defense would only allow two points in the second quarter, while scoring 12. The score at halftime was 29-11.

The Lady Mavericks' defensive dominance continued into the third quarter, as they held the Lady Falcons to four points, while scoring 12 more points. Twin Bridges did not score in the second half until the 2:03 mark in the third quarter.

Last season, the Mavericks finished with a win, taking third at state with a consolation finals win over Twin Bridges, The score was 68-30. In 2021, many in this year's team also experienced the heartbreak of losing the State C Championship 74-60 to Fort Benton.

"The heartbreak of being undefeated, getting all the way to the state championship and your only loss on the season is in that championship," Coach Erickson said. "It's nothing to hang your head over but it still kind of leaves a sting and a bad taste.

"When I look at our seniors and juniors, they were a part of all of that," Coach Erickson continued. "That experience definitely carried over from year to year. I think it kept them more focused as far as this year went, as far as what they wanted to accomplish and they came to work everyday at practice. They were determined to get better and were determined to make sure that we were improving every week, and they did."

In North Country's semifinal win over Manhattan Christian, Erickson led the charge with 23 points, nine rebounds, five assists, and two steals.

Wasson had 11 points, three rebounds, and two steals. S. LaBrie had six points and two rebounds. M. McColly had five points, five rebounds, and three steals. Scheffelmear had two points and two rebounds. Hillman had two points.

The Mavericks fell behind 8-5 at the end of the first quarter, which was the only quarter that the team had trailed last weekend, but they responded with dominant defense in the second and third quarter, giving up only four points in the second and three points in the third. Offensively, the Lady Mavericks scored 13 in the second quarter, and 16 in the third. North Country had their biggest lead of the game in the fourth quarter, leading the Lady Eagles 50-22 (28 points).

Coach Erickson was asked about their first quarter struggles.

"If you think that we are tall and lengthy, those girls are 6-3, 6-3, and 6-0. They are very long and lengthy," Coach Erickson said. "They play a 2-3 zone and that is a lot of length in a 2-3 zone and they can cover a lot of area, and I felt like early in that game, we weren't aggressive."

She said that they settled for outside shots, many of which were passed up, instead of attacking the paint.

"I got after my kids at halftime and said, we are not going to sit out here, pass the ball around and shoot three pointers," Coach Erickson said. "We have got to get into gaps, we have to penetrate, so we made a few adjustments offensively, on how we wanted to attack their zone and the kids came out and executed that."

In the Lady Mavericks' win over Chinook, Wasson led the team with 23 points, six steals, three rebounds, three blocks and two assists. Wasson was 10-of-11 from the field, and 3-of-4 from three point range.

Erickson had 15 points, eight rebounds, three steals, two assists, and one block. K. LaBrie had 13 points, five steals, three rebounds, and one assist. S. LaBrie had six points, three rebounds, and two assists. M. McColly had six points and two rebounds. Josie Brown had two points and two steals.

The Lady Mavericks made 23-of-38 (60.5%) from the field and 5-of-9 from three point range. The Lady Mavericks scored 37 points off of the 27 turnovers that they forced. North Country only turned the ball over 13 times, and gave up two points off those turnovers.

Our pressure really bothered them," Coach Erickson said. "They had a really hard time with our full court press and we limited them (in grabbing offensive rebounds), we ran the floor really well in transition against them, and things flowed really well that game. We came out really confident."