Lady Scotties Leave It All on the Court at Divisional Tournament

If you aren't proud of the Scottie girls basketball team, then you haven't been paying attention. The Lady Scotties traveled to Choteau for the Northern B Divisional Tournament this past weekend, and they certainly left their mark.

For Coach Kolstad, the tournament was a success. "We got about as much out of the girls that we could have. Every one of them contributed and it was a great team effort," he said. "We peaked at the right time and I am so proud of them."

Glasgow 53, Rocky Boy 39

The journey started Thursday night in a contest against the Rocky Boy Morning Stars. Starting the game for the Lady Scotties were Khloe Krumwiede, Lexi Nixdorf, Leinie Hughes, Abbi Kolstad, and Tyra Johnson, as it would be for the rest of the tournament.

Going into the game, Coach Jon Kolstad had his eye on the Morning Stars' best player, Rosie Parker. Turns out, Parker was playing with an injury and could not give 100 percent.

Rocky Boy outscored Glasgow in the first quarter, and at the end of the first eight minutes led the game with a score of 11-5.

The second quarter was the turning point for Glasgow, as they claimed the lead and maintained the upper hand for the rest of the contest. Junior Jordan Kulczyk came off the bench late in the first quarter, with Demi Aune, Jazmine Foster-Shaw, and Ashtyn Myrick all getting some time on the floor as well.

Leading the Lady Scotties in scoring were Kolstad with 17 points, followed by Kulczyk with 15.

Also contributing were Krumwiede 4, Nixdorf 6, Hughes 6, Johnson 5. The girls were 12 of 21 at the line, 57 percent.

Although Krumwiede and Johnson both found themselves in foul trouble with four infractions each, they were able to finish the game clean and avoid the bench.

Fairfield 54, Glasgow 47

The Lady Scotties' second game of the tournament matched them up against the undefeated Fairfield Lady Eagles. Undeterred by the daunting task of facing such a dominant team, the Lady Scotties were tenacious and determined. Late in the first quarter of the game, Glasgow led by seven points and ultimately ended the quarter leading 13-8.

Fairfield was noticeably struggling to break Glasgow's defense which held Fairfield's standout junior Natalie Klinker to a mere 10 points in the contest. "Leinie worked so hard against Klinker," said Coach Kolstad. "With the support of the team, she worked hard and we held her to eight shots."

The second period of the game was likely Glasgow's undoing as they were only able to score seven points to Fairfield's 17.

The Eagles maintained a slight lead for the remainder of the game, but it was no gift from the Scotties. Fairfield's largest lead of the game was nine points in the third quarter.

Late in the fourth quarter, Kulczyk suffered a shoulder injury after colliding with a Lady Eagle and she left the floor. After icing her shoulder for a few minutes, her return to the game was still questionable. "I told Jordan to take a few minutes, go for a walk, then let me know if she thought she could return to the game," said Coach Kolstad. Return to the game she did. "She got back in the game, stole the ball, and scored a layup," said Kolstad. "She got back in and lit the game up for us."

Glasgow had a balanced offensive game with Johnson recording 11 points, Kolstad 9, and both Hughes and Kulczyk adding 10. Also tacking on points were Krumwiede with 5, and Nixdorf 2.

The intense defensive effort by the Lady Scotties earned them a few personal fouls, with Nixdorf and Hughes both finishing the game with four.

At the charity stripe, the Lady Scotties went 12 for 19 - 63 percent - outshooting the Lady Eagles, who only managed to sink half of their attempts.

"It was our best game of the tournament," said Coach Kolstad."If they beat us on the outside game, we were okay with that, but we weren't going to let them beat us on the inside."

Glasgow 53, Shelby 48

The most exciting game of the tournament – for Scottie fans anyway – was held Saturday morning. The winner of the game would move on to the consolation game later in the day, the loser would go home.

Glasgow was matched up against the Shelby Lady Coyotes and ultimately defeated their opponent in an intense four-minute overtime.

Shelby came out looking for the win and outscored Glasgow 14-4 in the first quarter, leading by 12 points at one time (their largest lead in the contest). The Lady Coyotes would continue their scoring streak and outscore the Lady Scotties for most of the game.

With an offensive explosion from the Lady Scotties in the fourth quarter, the tenor of the game shifted. Glasgow outscored Shelby 18-11, and eventually tied the game 44-44. Krumwiede launched a half-court shot at the buzzer, but it bounced off the rim and sent the contest into overtime.

The gymnasium was pulsing with energy and the Lady Scotties were running on pure adrenaline. Hughes found herself at center court for her second tip-off of the game. Despite losing the OT jump-ball, as well as playing one man down after Kulczyk fouled out of the game, Glasgow finished the game on top with a score of 53-48.

Top Scottie scorers in the game were Kolstad 15, Krumwiede 12, and Kulczyk 11. Also adding points to the scoreboard were Nixdorf 2, Hughes 6, and Johnson 7. Hughes and Nixdorf earned four personal fouls, just escaping the bench. The Lady Scotties finished the game with 62.5 percent success at the line, going 10 for 16.

Choteau 53, Glasgow 34

After clawing their way through the tournament, the Scotties earned their way to the consolation game against the hometown Choteau Bulldogs on Saturday night. It was the first time in five years that the Lady Scotties were in contention for hardware at divisionals.

Glasgow was undoubtedly weary from the two previous games, but still determined to claim the win. Unfortunately, they ran out of gas and fell to Choteau by the largest margin of the tournament for them, 53-34. Despite their best efforts, Glasgow was unable to shut down the Durocher twins, Payton and Payge, who played the entire game and together scored 37 of their team's 53 points.

In her final game as a Scottie, a determined Kolstad poured it on and scored a game high 12 points for her team.

Supplementing Kolstad's 12 points in the game were Krumwiede 4, Hughes 8, Kulczyk 9, and Myrick 1. Nixdorf fouled out of the game. The Lady Scotties demonstrated their best free throw shooting in their final game, going 9 for 11, 73 percent.

Looking back on the season, Coach Kolstad said he was blessed with a great group of girls and parents to work with. "It was a great season," he said. "Talk about a great group of girls. A group of girls that never give up."

Kolstad acknowledged that he is interested in returning to coach next year. "A lot of people have been wondering if I would want to come back next year since Abbi is done playing," he said. "I had a lot of fun. If they want me, I'd like to come back."

Some interesting stats from the tournament: Scottie Senior Abbi Kolstad saw the most playing time overall, with 129.59 minutes on the hardwood. Krumwiede logged 116.47, Nixdorf 72.32, Hughes 107.21, Johnson 97, Kulczyk 96.52, Myrick 10.08, Aune 24.23, Jazmine Foster-Shaw 2.31, DJ Rasmusan 1.21, and Kaylee King 1.40.

Leading the scoring for the tournament was also Kolstad with 53 points, followed by Kulczyk 45, Hughes 30, Krumwiede 25, Johnson 23, Nixdorf 10, and Myrick 1.

Nixdorf had the most success at the line with 80 percent, Krumwiede 55 percent, Kolstad 67 percent, Hughes 46 percent, Johnson 70 percent, Kulczyk 71 percent, and Myrick 50 percent.