M-ettes Fall to Havre, Take Down Lady Scotties

The Malta M-ettes split a pair of games in their first week of action in 2024.

Malta fell 60-34 to the Class A State Champion Havre Blue Ponies on Thursday, January 4, in Malta. The M-ettes bounced back to defeat the rival Glasgow Scotties 50-35 on Saturday, January 6, at MHS.

The M-ettes are scheduled to travel to face the Wolf Point Wolves on Friday, January 12, at 4:30 p.m. The C-squad will kick off the event at noon. JV Girls will play at 2:30 p.m. Malta will host the Fergus Golden Eagles on Saturday, January 13. The C-squad will play at 1 p.m., the JV Girls will play at 2:30 p.m., and the M-ette Varsity will play at 5:30 p.m.

In Malta's win over Glasgow, Denvyr Tuss led Malta with 19 points.

"I got in a good position a lot of times and my passers were just great and got me the ball," Tuss said.

Neva Jacobson had 12 points. Kelbie Nelson had seven points, Giona Lamb scored five points, Elly Anderson had three points, and Emree Stuart had one point.

"We worked well as a team together tonight," Lamb said after the win. "I am pretty sure that we had a lot of fun playing them because we have been looking forward to this game for a while now."

Tuss was asked why they were so excited to take on Glasgow, their distant neighbors to the east.

"It's one of our biggest rivals," Tuss said. "You just can't lose to Glasgow. We just want to beat them really bad, so we worked really hard at practice all week."

Glasgow scored the first bucket of the game during their first possession, but the M-ettes were quick to respond, with a two point bucket in response. On Malta's next possession, Anderson knocked down one of her two free throw attempts drawn on a shooting foul with 7:10 left in the opening quarter, and the team maintained their lead until the final buzzer.

Malta outscored Glasgow 17-8 in the first quarter. Malta extended their lead 25-15 by halftime. Both teams scored eight points in the third quarter. Malta outscored Glasgow 16-12 in the fourth quarter.

In Malta's loss to Havre, Nelson led Malta with seven points, seven rebounds, and three assists. Anderson had six points and three rebounds. Addison Ulrich had six points. Tuss had five points and nine rebounds. Jacobson had four points, five rebounds, four assists, and three steals. Tailynn Wilke had three points. Emree Stuart had three points.

"It was very tough because they are the three-time state champions (in Class A), and I am sure that they are going to go for a fourth," Lamb said. "They are super hard to beat and they have some really fast girls and good shooters."

Malta made 30.2% of their shots from the field. The M-ettes were 6-of-15 (40%) from three-point range.

The M-ettes fell behind 25-13 at halftime, and Havre extended their lead in the third quarter, outscoring Malta 19-2. Malta outscored Havre 19-16 in the fourth quarter.

Lamb was asked of the benefits of playing a team of Havre's caliber.

"I think that it has helped us try and move ourselves a little faster," Lamb said. "We know in the future that we are going to face teams that are just as fast as them and have good shooters."