NORTHERN B: Malta queens of division; Wildcats, Scotties also advance

CUT BANK – Allison Kunze has been on this stage before.

And it's quite possible she'll be on this stage again next year.

The 5-foot-10 junior led everyone within a 25-mile radius with 19 points and a dozen rebounds Saturday night as the Malta M-Ettes won the Northern B Girls' Divisional Tournament with a convincing 53-40 victory over the Harlem Lady Wildcats at Cut Bank High School's Willie DeGroot Gymnasium.

It's the third straight year the M-Ettes have earned the Northern B's top seed into the Class B State Tournament, which begins next Thursday at Montana State University's Brick Breeden Fieldhouse in Bozeman.

"It's so exciting," Kunze said. "I'm glad that we did it for the third year in a row."

Last year, the M-Ettes finished fourth after falling to Roundup in the consolation matchup. In 2020, they were set to face Shelby in the Saturday morning game, but the tournament was called off that fateful March 13 when the COVID-19 pandemic struck.

Malta led from start to finish Saturday night, taking a 12-9 lead after eight minutes before pulling away with runs of 14-9 and 17-8 in the middle quarters, respectively. Another junior classman, Addy Anderson, had three 3-pointers and finished with 14, while Madison Williamson – yes, she's a junior as well – drained two trifectas for eight.

They never looked behind them, either: "No, we didn't," Kunze added. "We just kept striving and finished all the way through."

Nate Hammond, the M-Ettes' head coach, said his junior-laden squad – only one senior, Justine Lamb – came out like a buzzsaw. Lamb came away with six markers.

"They played hard; they really wanted to win that," Hammond said. "It was nice to come in, we didn't have a whole lot of pressure.

"We knew we were going to the state tournament. I thought Harlem played great, I thought they come out and shot the ball well and executed well. They gave us the best game we've had against them all year. Great game for both teams."

Lady Wildcats' coach Brandon Trottier agreed that his girls ran into a buzzsaw.

"They're a solid team," Trottier said of his District 2B rival. "This is our fourth matchup of the season. They're solid.

"Our girls gave it everything this week. I'm really proud of them, I think this weekend (gives) a good momentum going into the state tournament."

The Wildcats got 17 points and seven boards from senior Taya Trottier, while sophomore Emma Billmayer hit a trio of treys to finish with 12.

Billmayer, who transferred from the Class C Turner Tornados, waxed philosophic about her experience with the Wildcats and getting to go to a state tourney.

"I wasn't expecting any of this, but it's a dream I always wished for, ever since I was little," she said. "I just wanted a new start, and it's been fun.

"I've enjoyed it with these girls, they're my family, and ... from the beginning we wanted to go a long ways, and we finally got to achieve that goal."

Malta will open the state tournament – literally and physically – when they face the Columbus Cougars in Thursday's "Red-Eye Special" at 9 a.m. Harlem will be at the other end of the spectrum, playing their opening round game against Western B runner-up Thompson Falls at 5 p.m.

Malta's last state title came in 2016 when then eked out a two-point win over Fairfield. They also won the previous year, downing Colstrip by 11. The M-Ettes also had a pair of second-place finishes bookending those back-to-back titles, losing both times to the Eagles: 60-55 in overtime in 2014, and a heartbreaking 34-33 loss in 2017.

Malta, Harlem, and consolation winner Glasgow made it a 1-2-3 sweep for District 2B at divisionals. The Scotties took the third-place trophy when their sixth player, Sabrina Harsh, hit a short jumper in the paint with eight seconds left to give them a 40-38 victory over the Fairfield Eagles in the tournament's penultimate game.

The Eagles had just gotten a bucket from Tori Jones on the other end with 18 seconds left on the clock, and Harsh set up shop on the north end of the gym.

"I just knew that we all had to work together as a team, and just try our hardest to score and ... just give it our all, because we knew that this would be our last game if we didn't," the six-foot junior said. "I just felt that it was my fault that (Jones) made that basket, so I was like, 'Just get back and give it my best so that we could try to get back into the game."

She got the ball down low and was double-teamed, she said: "At first I was just kind of freaking out because there's two people on me and I don't know what to do. And Daley (Aune, Harsh's teammate) passed it to me, and I was like, 'Yep, she believes in me, so I believe in myself.'"

Harsh finished with a double-double, 11 points and 10 rebounds, while Aune, a 5-7 junior, came away with a game-high 12 markers and eight boards, and senior Abrianna Nielsen came away with a pair of treys and eight points.

Glasgow head coach Cami Graham this is a huge moment for the Scotties and for the Valley County community, and it was a long time in coming.

"It's been 23 years since we made it to state," Graham confirmed. "These girls have worked super hard put a lot of time in. I'm really proud of them."

She said Harsh's late basket was a welcome relief. "I didn't have a lot going through my mind; I just thought, 'Please score or please get fouled.'

"I knew we didn't have much time, and we wouldn't have another chance at it."

The Scotties will take on the Colstrip Fillies at 3:30 Thursday afternoon.

On the other end, Fairfield head coach Travis Schenk was surrounded by his heartbroken girls.

"That was a tough one; tough way to end the season," Schenk said. "Both teams battled. You've got to be proud of that; both teams battled.

"They had a lot of size we had to deal with."

Fairfield's tallest player, sophomore Toryn Martinez, stands 5 feet, 10 inches, while seniors Natalie Kolste and Emma Woods are both 5 feet, 8 inches.

"These girls did everything we asked of them," Schenk added. "They battled their butts off, they just couldn't quite finish the deal.

"I'm proud of them."

Jones, a 5-foot-6 senior, had 11 points and seven rebounds in her final game as a Fairfield Eagle. Woods scored nine, and senior Alexa Johnson tossed in eight.

This article originally appeared on Great Falls Tribune: NORTHERN B: Malta queens of division; Wildcats, Scotties also advance