MILES CITY — Last Saturday night at a loud and proud Custer County District High School gym, the Miles City Cowgirls turned their matchup against Eastern A rival Laurel into a track meet.
Not a competitive one, mind you. Early in the second quarter, Miles City had built a 31-0 lead and cruised to a 68-38 victory.
In the middle of it all was senior point guard Jillian Kanduch, who put her entire skill set on display — dead-eye perimeter shooting, fast-break finesse, creativity with the ball and pressure defense without it.
It was the kind of showing Cowgirls coach Randy Robinson has gotten used to in the past four years.
"She's got a high basketball IQ," Robinson told MTN Sports earlier Saturday. "She understands the game like most point guards do. Great free throw shooter. Can create her own shot. She's a team player. Loves to create shots for her teammates, leads us in assists.
"She's our best on-ball defender as well. She leads us in steals. She's probably third in rebounds. So she does bring the full package on both ends of the court."
Kanduch is a big reason why the Cowgirls entered this week with a 9-4 overall record and were looking toward again making noise at the Eastern A tournament a few weeks from now in Billings, where they made the title game a year ago.
Entering this week, Kanduch averages 15.4 points per game while shooting 46% from the floor.
But it was never a guarantee that Kanduch would be able to suit up at Miles City — not until the spring before her freshman year, when a new Montana law was enacted to remove attendance requirements for homeschool students to take part in a school district's extracurricular activities.
Born in Missoula, Kanduch has been homeschooled her entire life. When she was at the fourth-grade level she started playing competitively with girls from Sacred Heart School in Miles City, including fellow Cowgirls senior Sam Peila.
Still, it wasn't until she joined the varsity squad at Miles City as a freshman that Kanduch said she was able to consistently play competitive ball in a structured team environment.
"I'm super grateful," Kanduch said of being given the opportunity to play with the high school team. "I was trying to make the decision of going to public school to play or to stay homeschooled and not play. And then we found out about the (new) rules, so it was a huge blessing."
The Cowgirls can count their blessings too. Kanduch's inclusion has given the team a dynamic that's helped them reach the state tournament in two of the past three seasons. Last year the team got to the doorstep of the championship game but was felled by a buzzer-beater from Bigfork's Ava Davey in the semifinals.
This year, Kanduch and teammates such as Peila, senior forwards Alli Glasscock and Camdyn Waterman, and sophomore guard Ramsey Pryor have their eyes on another trip to state. But with a different outcome.
"It was a hard loss," Kanduch said of last year's semifinal stunner. "Even falling asleep that night, I couldn't. I was just replaying the game constantly."
This year, Class A is again loaded with defending champion Billings Central, perennial contender Havre, Frenchtown, Dillon, Bigfork and Lockwood among those with championship aspirations.
The Cowgirls dropped both of their regular-season meetings with Havre this year, but could very well see the Blue Ponies again in the postseason.
"When we have the opportunity to play those teams, we just have get after it," Kanduch said.
It's not all about basketball for Kanduch. Though she's homeschooled, she has been accumulating college credit by taking courses at Miles Community College the past two years. Kanduch said she'll have 30 or so credits under her belt by the time she leaves high school.
Kanduch has signed to play basketball in the Frontier Conference at Carroll College, and the ability to take part in in-person college courses give her a sense of what the next level will be like for her.
"I was looking at a bunch of different schools, but when I was able to interact with the team (at Carroll) and the coaches and stuff, I just felt like i was a part of it," she said. "The atmosphere is really nice."
But right now, Kanduch is the one doing the schooling. And she hopes to help the Cowgirls make a significant run.
"Class A is super tough this year. I think it's the toughest it's been in a long time," Robinson said. "I think there's seven teams that can win it, and we're one of those.
"But I would consider (Kanduch) a top-five player in Class A. She brings all components to the game."
