Mavericks Top Guns in Eastern C Division

North Country's girls basketball team proved why they were ranked number one in the state with a sweep of the Eastern C Divisional tournament to earn a repeat trip to the State Tournament. The poised squad improved their 2022-23 season record to 23-0 overall as they eye up a state title this weekend.

The Mavericks stormed over the MonDak Thunder 66-32 in the opening round of Divisionals Wednesday in Wolf Point, shooting 50.9 percent from the field. North Country wrangled the Culbertson Cowgirls Thursday by a 63-19 margin to advance to the championship game. The Mavericks earned their wings and the trophy Friday night, handing the Plentywood Wildcats their lone loss on the season so far. North Country won in the final minute of the game by draining free throws and forcing a turnover denying the Wildcats a chance at regaining the lead.

The Mavericks brought their passionate yet controlled play to the court Wednesday and ran up a 24-0 lead over the Thunder in the first eight minutes of play, while full-court pressing. MonDak recovered somewhat offensively in the second, scoring 12 but North Country matched them for a 36-12 lead at the half. Paige Wasson ran up 16 points for the Mavericks in the first half despite MonDak assigning defenders whose sole mission for the game was to deny the North Country junior her chances.

The Mavericks put up 15 points in both the third and fourth quarters while holding the Thunder to 10 in the same frames.

Wasson led all scorers with 21 points, hitting three from downtown and 4-of-5 free throws. Erickson scored 16 with 8-for-11 shooting from inside the perimeter. Mattea McColly hit 100 percent of her field goal attempts, putting up 14 points. Kendall Scheffelmear hit 3-of-6 from the field for 6 points. Shelbi LaBrie added 6 from beyond the perimeter and Kora LaBrie added a trey. The Mavericks shot 50 percent at the line while giving up seven free throws on 13 attempts by the Thunder.

The Mavericks had 13 fouls, a higher number for the team due to their full court press, while MonDak held theirs to 11 infractions. Erickson had three fouls while K. LaBrie and McColly both had two. S. Labrie, Cienna Strommen, Scheffelmear, Wasson, Josie Brown and BaiLee McColly had one a piece.

North Country had 28 rebounds, 15 assists, eight steals, one block and 10 turnovers to MonDak's 18 boards, nine assists, two steals and 23 turnovers.

Erickson led in rebounds with eight followed by McColly with five, Wasson four and Scheffelmear three. Wasson dished the ball five times to lead in assists. K. LaBrie and Erickson both thad three while McColly added two assists. K. LaBrie, Scheffelmear and Erickson had two steals a piece with Wasson and Brown both adding one to the books. Erickson had the team's block.

Thursday's action pitted the Mavericks against the Cowgirls and again North Country wasted no time in establishing dominance of the court. The Mavericks went up 10-0 before posting a 13-2 lead at the end of the first, both of Culbertson's points coming at the charity stripe. North Country led 25-7 at the half and outscored Culbertson 19-10 in the third. Early in the third, Culbertson went to deep into their bench, sensing a comeback was out of reach. North Country sent in players from their bench with 4:40 remaining in the game, continuing to own the court with another 19-point performance in the fourth. They held the Cowgirls to 3 points in the final eight minutes for a running clock.

Wasson alone outscored the Cowgirls, scoring 21 with three from downtown and a 4-for-4 showing at the line. Erickson tied the Culbertson team. She hit a three-pointer and 4-of-5 bonus shots for 19 points. K. Labrie added 5 while Sammie Wisher and Berkley Hillman both scored 4 points. S. LaBrie, M. McColly, Scheffelmear, CharLee McColly and B. McColly scored 2 points a piece. North Country shot 71.4 percent from the line while Culberston hit 5-of-9 bonus shots.

Both teams were called for 13 fouls. M. McColly had three calls against here while K. LaBrie, Hillman and Brown each had two fouls. Scheffelmear, Erickson, Wasson and B. McColly held their infractions to one a piece.

North Country had 26 rebounds, 16 assists, 19 steals, two blocks and 13 turnovers to Culbertson's 17 boards, seven helpers, four takeaways and 29 giveaways.

Erickson led in rebounds with five while K. LaBrie, Wasson and C. McColly pulled down three each. Wasson led in assists with four followed by S. LaBrie and Erickson, both with three. Wisher, K. LaBrie and M. McColly added two each to the stats sheet. K. LaBrie led the Mavericks with five steals while Wasson added three. Wisher, Erickson, Brown and B. McColly had two steals with S. LaBrie, Scheffelmear and Hillman snagging one a piece. Scheffelmear and Erickson both stopped a Cowgirls' shot.

The win advanced the Mavericks to the title game Friday night where they faced another undefeated team in the Wildcats. North Country proved their poise was not to be shaken under pressure. The team demonstrated control, even while trailing as the game went on.

The Mavericks led 12-8 at the end of the first, full-court pressing early though Plentywood adjusted to the pressure late in the quarter. Plentywood went on a 6-0 run to start the second and take a 14-12 lead. The Wildcats' Emma Brensdal found her rhythm against the Mavericks' defense, waiting for her opponents to react to her shot fake before going up with the ball to score. North Country found themselves down by 6 at one point in the second but fought back to trail 25-23 at the half.

Erickson tied the game early in the third but Plentywood regained the lead for a bit. Wasson and Erickson powered the Mavericks with 10 points in the frame while holding the Wildcats to 8 for a 33-33 score heading into the final quarter. Wasson scored the tying bucket with 30 seconds left in the third from the low post despite being triple-teamed.

A back-and-forth final quarter had the Wolves Den reverberating with cheers from the stands. Free throws were the story late in the game as K. LaBrie, Wasson and S. LaBrie sank bonus shots to get North Country leads at different times. Wasson went to the line for 1-on-1 free throws with 37.2 seconds left in the game. Her first tied the game and her second gave the Mavericks a 45-44 lead.

Plentywood missed a jumper at the other end of the court and fouled S. LaBrie on the rebound, sending her to the line. S. LaBrie hit the first shot. The second went off, burning up some clock as Plentywood came down with the board.

North Country's tenacious defense, Wasson and Erickson, went after Plentywood's Annie Kaul, forcing a turnover as the clock ran out. Officials in the game though added 1 second to the clock and the ball went to North Country for an inbound play in front of their bench. With ball in hand, the Mavericks let the last second tick from the clock and claimed the 46-44 victory and the trophy.

Wasson finished the game with 26 points, hitting 10-of-21 from the field with two three-pointers and draining 4-of-5 free throws. Erickson added 12 points with a 2-for-2 showing at the line. S. LaBrie scored 4 with a trey and a bonus shot. K. LaBrie hit two free throws and M. McColly hit one from the court. The Mavericks shot 81 percent from the line while Plentywood connected on 70 percent of their bonus shots.

The Mavericks held their fouls to 11 with a cleaner second half while Plentywood drew 13 whistles. K. LaBrie had four fouls while M. McColly and Wasson had two infractions. S. LaBrie, Schefflemear and Erickson had one a piece.

North Country had 21 rebounds, nine assists, nine steals, one block and four turnovers to Plentywood's 29 boards, eight assists, three steals and 16 turnovers.

Scheffelmear grabbed six boards while Erickson had five, Wasson four, S. LaBrie three and M. McColly two. Wasson led in assists with three while Scheffelmear and Erickson had two each. S. LaBrie and K. LaBrie both added one. S. Labrie led in steals with three. Scheffelmear had two takeaways with K. LaBrie, M. McColly, Erickson and Wasson notching one a piece. Wasson had the team's block.

North Country heads to the Class C State Tournament at the MetraPark in Billings this week. The tournament will run Wednesday through Saturday, March 8-11. The Mavericks are looking to bring home the big trophy after a third-place showing last season. They open the tournament against the Chinook Sugarbeeters on Wednesday, March 8, at 7:30 p.m.

Stan Ozark, Derek Beadle and Eli Feezell of KLTZ Radio will be on hand to cover all North Country Mavericks' (girls tournament) and Lustre Christian Lions' (boys tournament) games. Tournament brackets can be found at glasgowcourier.com.