BILLINGS — The Saco-Whitewater-Hinsdale girls basketball co-op has won a remarkable 58 consecutive games, and a pair of State C titles.
This year’s version looks a little different, though, as the Mavericks don’t have the same faces that headlined those two championship teams.
“I keep telling the girls it's going to take us a while until we flow offensively because we lost so much scoring power. Not only did we lose our scoring power, those players made everyone around them better," head coach Amber Erickson said.
"But I keep preaching at them we defend well. Our defense is tough and it's scrappy, and that's something we can bring every night. We're not going to look very polished for a long time offensively, and it's very frustrating at times, but if we stay positive and keep breaking down and do little things to get us better and more comfortable offensively that will come along.
"But our defense will keep helping us win games when we struggle to score."
Teagan Erickson is at Montana State and Paige Wasson is at Rocky Mountain College, which has opened the door for Shelbi LaBrie to showcase her skill set as the leader of the Mavericks.
“Mental toughness and her grit and determination. She just never quits and she finds a different gear when the going gets tough," Erickson said of LaBrie. "She's coachable and willing to learn.
"She's finding herself into a different role with the class that we lost last year as far as leadership goes. We have a good working relationship, so it's going to really help bring us along."
“I leanred a lot about how important it is as a team to work well together and do the little things right, so that's my goal this year is working with the team to do the little things and build connections with them," LaBrie said.
LaBrie is the latest from the Saco-Whitewater-Hinsdale program to commit to play basketball collegiately, as she’ll join Kevin Woodin’s Montana-laden roster at MSU Billings in 2025.
“Every time I was at their college for camps and stuff, I just really liked the atmosphere, and the coaches, too. I feel like I connected with them more than other coaches," LaBrie said. "So that was exciting to go somewhere and they made you feel like you were already on their team kind of. I knew I wanted to go there for a long time I feel like."
But for now, LaBrie has all her attention on helping the Mavericks ride that winning streak as long as possible.
