BUTTE — After winning three straight Class C girls basketball championships between 2012 and 2014, you might think that the Belt Huskies would have simply been reveling in their streak of dominance.
But for Jeff Graham, Montana Tech's current head women's basketball coach and former head coach at Belt, he and the Huskies sometimes felt weighed down by that expectation of sustained excellence.
"You know, it was tough, it was stressful at times," said Graham, a Chester native and Montana Western graduate. "When the streak was broken in 2015, it was almost a relief for some of the girls. We had one senior that year, and the other girls got to refocus."
That's exactly what Belt did as it went on to piece together a repeat championship performance between 2016 and 2017. The championships were part of an unprecedented 10-year run that saw the Huskies play on Saturday night of the state tournament every season.
They placed fourth in 2008, second in 2009, fourth in 2010 and third in 2011. Following the 2012, 2013 and 2014 state championships, Belt finished third in 2015.
The Huskies missed the state tournament in 2018 and 2019, then went on to share the 2020 Class C title with Roy-Winifred to bring their program total to seven — the first coming in 1991— to give Belt the most titles of any Class C girls team.
Graham helped Belt build a dynasty, and he stressed that making that happen required a tremendous amount of effort and support from the entire community.
"Just great kids," said Graham. "A lot of the kids' parents were Belt people. They put in a lot of time. Too many people to name, too many families. A lot of the families did a great job of getting them there. It was just a group effort."
He helped the Huskies claim a half dozen championships and said that each one was uniquely meaningful.
"They're all very special," he said. "A lot of them were with similar kids. Each one was special where they were at and each team was different."
That success with Belt vaulted Graham into the college ranks when he was hired as Tech's head women's basketball coach prior to the 2022 season. The Orediggers earned three conference wins in his first two seasons before breaking through this season, winning nine Frontier games, the most since 2016-17.
"Trust in what you're doing, trust in your kids," said Graham. "We play a lot of young kids. So happy for them, the success they've had and how unselfish they are. It's been great to see."
And while he's now a long ways from Belt, Class C roots run deep with the Orediggers' roster, which has five players from small-town Montana.
"There's just great players all over, small towns or big towns," said Graham. "There's just good basketball all over Montana."
