Here We Are Again: The 2016 Divisional Basketball Tournament

Since 2007 at least one of the three towns that now make up the North Country Mavericks have sent one or more teams to state tournaments either in football (with Glasgow or Malta), volleyball, basketball or track. 2016 has creepily creeped up on us and here we are again looking at maybe another trip to the big dance.

The Lady Mavericks of Saco/Hinsdale/Whitewater, a newly founded triad, just won the 3C girls basketball district tourney, as well as the 3C conference championship sporting a perfect conference season.

Last year it was the Saco/Whitewater coalition that made it to state in girls basketball only to come up a few pernts in arrears as they lost to a very tough Gardiner bunch led by Hannah Dean. Yikes!

The Panther ladies did win a state championship a few years earlier and in-between there was the Hinsdale Lady Raiders who took it to the final game only to lose to the Belt Lady Huskies for a runner-up trophy.

Unfortunately the boys haven't made it past divisional in any combination of towns but I feel their turn is coming as they will just lose two players to graduation and the now sophomores will be juniors next with a bunch more experience.

Head coach Amber Erickson seems to have peaked her girls at just the right time and they are humming along like a new penny. Amber is ably assisted by Darin Cummings (Whitewater) and Elena Sudbrack (Saco).

Granted it has been an easier conference than in the past and the Lady Mavericks are going to have to be at their very best this weekend as they compete with the 2C for a chance to represent their towns and

district at the 2016 state tourney. Out of eight teams only two will advance. The Plentywild Woodcats (formerly a class B school and generally known as the Plentywood Wildcats) are firmly ensconced in

first place with a perfect record of 14-0 followed by MonDak (11-3), Circle (11-3) and Froid/Lake (10-4).

Tatum Moore is the only senior on the Lady Maverick roster with Kayleigh Cummings and Payton Chopper as the only juniors. Following them on the roster are the "Super Sophs" Jada Sudbrack, Mickayla Johnson, Casity Boucher, and Bailey Funk. The ninth graders are Chaykota Christensen, Sarah Boucher and Hannah Anderson and there are two eighth graders, rounding out the slate, Halle Beil and Elise Strommen.

The Mavs polished off the Dodson Lady Coyotes in their first tournament game and easily gored the Lady Spartans of Scobey 53 to 32 in the championship game in Malta last Saturday. It could have been worse because the Lady Mavericks had a 39 pernt advantage in Act III.

The Lady Spartans fought hard to keep the running clock from running and struggled back in the fourth stanza to close the deficit to 21 beans. They just weren't up to their normal selves.

I won't bore you with a bunch of stats but I will say that Tatum owned the key in both games scoring on several or more layups that the Spartans didn't have an answer for.

Jada Sudbrack splashed in 21 points in the game with Dodson, most of them PBs (paint buckets or baskets scored while in the paint.)

Mickayla Johnson has improved greatly over the season and had more than just a few blocked shots and good defense as did tough rebounder Casity Boucher. Casity can rear back and hit the occasional three as well.

It was good to see that Bailey Funk's mom let them come back from a family vacation in Hawaii just in time for the tourney. Bailey is the team's ball-bringer-upper.

Kayleigh Cummings handles defense pretty well and can rebound with the best of them.

At any rate, the tourney is this weekend in Wuff Pernt. Girls basketball is well worth the price of admission so be there or be square.

That's it for now folks. Thanks for listening.