Roundup's girls have lost just two basketball games this season -- one on Friday night to conference foe Columbus and one back on Jan. 9 in Malta. The Panthers evened the season series with the M-Ettes on Saturday in Roundup, picking up a 47-35 non-conference win.
Malta was playing from behind all night, as Roundup was able to lead wire-to-wire. The Panthers led 9-4 after the first quarter and that grew to 27-17 at halftime after a Tia Stahl step-back 3-pointer before the buzzer.
Roundup was able to stretch its lead in the third quarter courtesy of the long ball. The Panthers were splashing in 3-pointer after 3-pointer and their lead grew to 40-21 after three quarters. Roundup cruised through the fourth quarter, though Malta was able to cut the deficit to 44-34 with less than two minutes to play.
The win solidifies Roundup's status among the contenders in Class B, as Malta has been one of the best in the Northern B all season. Even in the loss, Malta head coach Nate Hammond feels his teams' schedule has been beneficial.
"We just struggled shooting all night, and that's just the way it goes sometimes," Hammond said. "We have scheduled some good non-conference games. We lost to Havre, which is a good one for us, but we did pick up (Saco-Whitewater-Hinsdale). We did pick up Froid-Medicine Lake (Friday), which is another really good team. They had some nice, big kids. I thought this was a good weekend for us overall. I think next week we'll be a better team than we were last week."
The Malta boys kept Roundup from a sweep on Saturday night, as a 13-0 first quarter set the tone for the Mustangs. Malta led 21-6 at halftime, but Roundup hung around and got it within 11 points on multiple occasions. The Panthers, however, ran out of steam as Malta was able to pull away in the fourth quarter.
Roundup is in action again on Tuesday against Shepherd, while Malta will play the same night against Wolf Point.
