The M-ettes Pick Up A Pair of Lopsided Victories

The Malta M-ette basketball team won a couple of conference games this weekend as they hosted and defeated the Harlem LadyCats 79-43 on Friday, January 24, and they won their away game in Poplar 67-44 against the Lady Indians.

The M-ettes will host the Fairview Lady Warriors on Thursday, January 30, for Malta’s Senior Night. Kelbie Nelson will be honored as the team’s lone senior.

Malta was led by junior Neva Jacobson who had 17 points, eight assists, seven steals, and four rebounds.

Junior Kendall Clausen had 11 points, four rebounds, and two steals. Tailynn Wilke had 11 points and five offensive rebounds. Emree Stuart had 11 points and three rebounds.

Clausen was asked about Malta’s win and what was key to their victory.

“To just work as a tem and play fierce against them,” Clausen said.

Denvyr Tuss had nine points and seven rebounds. Kylie Bishop had six points, five rebounds, and four assists. Nelson had four points, five rebounds, and two steals. Hailey Welch had four points, six rebounds, five assists, and three steals.

Klohie Zeiger had four points and three offensive rebounds. Emma Ereaux had two points and four rebounds.

Malta led wire-to-wire, outscoring Harlem 18-6 in the first quarter, 19-10 in the second quarter, 21-13 in the third quarter, and 21-14 in the fourth quarter.

Malta scored 24 points off of the 24 turnovers that they forced. Malta had 19 steals.

Though layups were missed in transition, the team was able to score a few. Jacobson had four.

“We really have been focusing on our zone defense a lot at practice, and so we are really excited to just get into it and start out the game strong and hopefully get a nice win,” Jacobson.

Malta scored 42 points in the paint, while holding Harlem to 16. Malta outrebounded the Ladycats 50-to-23.

Clausen said that it would take good defense to defeat Poplar.

“Stop them from shooting threes, play hard against them and work as a team,” Clausen said.

Jacobson led Malta in their win over Poplar with 19 points, nine rebounds, eight steals, and seven assists. Stuart had 14 points and eight rebounds.

Tuss had a 13 point, 12 rebound double-double. Wilke had eight points, eight rebounds, and two steals. Clausen had seven points and three rebounds.

Welch had two points and four rebounds. Bishop had two points and two rebounds. Ereaux had two points.

Malta again led wire to wire, outpacing Poplar 12-6 in the first quarter. Poplar fought back, outscoring the M-ettes 15-13 in the second quarter. The Lady Indians would come close, trailing 28-27 in the middle of the third quarter, but Malta would pull away, outscoring Poplar 22-12 by the end of the third period. Malta expanded their lead to 23 points in the fourth quarter, scoring 20 points, while holding Poplar to 11.

Clausen was asked about playing with a mask, a sight that hasn’t been seen in Malta in a few years. Clausen went 3-for-4 in the game against Poplar and knocked down two three pointers in Malta’s win over Harlem.

“I just decided to play hard and forget what happened before,” Clausen said. “I decided to shoot the ball more and the shots started to fall.”