A Slammin' Start to the Season

The reigning State C Champion North Country Lady Mavericks basketball team won both games in their opening weekend in Miles City.

The team defeated the Garfield County (Jordan) Lady Mustangs 60-17 on Friday, Dec. 1, and the Melstone Lady Broncs 46-27 on Saturday, Dec. 2.

This Thursday, Dec. 7, the Lady Mavericks will head to the Lewistown Showcase to face Winifred-Roy. Mavericks Head Coach Amber Erickson was asked about Winifred-Roy.

“They are a state contending team with some feisty guards and a big post, we play them alot in the summers so we are very familiar with their team,” Coach Erickson said. “We will want to speed them up and keep the ball out of their post players hands in the half court.”

The next day, the team will see Twin Bridges in a rematch of the 2023 state championship. North Country defeated Twin Bridges 59-26 last March for the title to cap off their perfect 26-0 season.

“They are very athletic and have some size,” Coach Erickson said. “They have a lot of upperclassmen and experience like we do so it will be a great matchup. We will need to take good care of the ball and execute our offenses, it’s going to be a great game.”

In the team’s season opening win over Garfield County, Paige Wasson led the Mavs with 21 points and four steals. Wasson knocked down 5-of-11 three point attempts.

Teagan Erickson had 10 points, nine rebounds, and a team-leading five assists. Shelbi LaBrie had nine points, five rebounds, three assists, and two steals. BaiLee McColly had eight points, seven rebounds, and three assists.

Kendall Scheffelmear had six points and seven pass deflections. Josie Brown had four points and four offensive rebounds. CharLee McColly had two points.

“We came out looking pretty solid against Jordan,” Coach Erickson said. “We were able to throw all our different defensive looks at them and all 11 players that dressed for varsity got some good minutes. They played mostly 2-3 zone and we threw several different offensive looks at them and were able to get some great open looks in both transition and in our half court offenses.”

North Country led wire-to-wire, not giving up a single point in the first quarter, while scoring 20. The Mavs outscored the Lady Mustangs 15-10 in the second quarter, and 20-0 in the third quarter. Garfield County scored seven points in the fourth while holding North Country’s reserves to five.

Melstone proved to be a tougher task for North Country, not allowing the Mavs to run away in the first quarter. The Mavericks outscored Melstone 9-7 in the first quarter, 14-2 in the second quarter, and 11-6 in the third quarter. Both teams scored 12 points in the fourth quarter.

“Melstone was an athletic team that played solid defense,” Coach Erickson said. “They kept us from finding a good offensive flow in the half court but we were able to try several of our man and zone offenses and get some good offensive looks. This game was fun because we were able to press the whole game and play a little zone and man defense helping us work on and get into better game shape.”

Wasson led the charge for North Country, scoring 24 points. She also had six rebounds and four steals.

Erickson had 10 points, six rebounds, and two assists. LaBrie had seven points, five rebounds, and three assists. Scheffelmear had four points, four rebounds, and two steals. B. McColly had one point, six rebounds, and two steals.