Superior falls in tournament title game

The Superior Lady Cats traveled to Ronan Friday to compete in the Mission Valley Tournament. After winning the first four games of the tournament, Superior fell to Flathead 36- 29 in the championship game and suffered their first loss of the summer league season. Kaitlynn Koke led the Lady Cats with 9 points in the championship loss.

Although Superior (13-1) fell to Flathead for a second place finish in the tournament, head coach Jeff Schultz said he thought the girls played outstanding.

“The little Class C team opened some eyes of the Class A schools,” coach Schultz said of Superior competing against bigger schools like Flathead and Browning.

Throughout the tournament, Superior only had seven players available because the JV team also played over the weekend. Coach Schultz said only having two subs of the bench caught up with the team by the end of the tournament.

“Flathead was subbing five off the bench and we were subbing two,” coach Schultz said. We should have got them, but then we ran out of steam. You could see the magic run out.”

Before the Lady Cats faced Flathead, a Class AA school from Kalispell, in the championship, they opened the tournament against Charlo. Behind a team leading 8 points from senior Kelsey Stenberg, Superior beat Charlo 31-25 for the third time this season. Senior Ashley Blaylock and junior Nicole Stroot each added 6 points in the victory.

The momentum of the first game carried over to the second game against tournament host Ronan. The Lady Cats out ran Ronan and won 63-18. Stenberg again lead the team in scoring with 16 points. Senior Malinda Steinebach scored 15 points in the game.

In the third game of the tournament, Superior faced Browning, which competes at the Class A level. The Lady Cats handled the bigger school and won 44-30. Steinebach, Stroot and Koke all lead the team in scoring with 9 points each. Coach Schultz said the spread out scoring is something he prides the team on each game.

After winning the first three games of the tournament, Superior went into the semifinals as the number one seeded team. As the number one team, Superior faced Browning for a second time in a row in the semifinals. The physical game ended in overtime as Superior survived and won 54-53. Koke scored a team-high 19 points in the hard-fought game. Stroot added 11 points and Stenberg added 10 as the other two players to score in double digits.

Coach Schultz said the team showed great toughness throughout the tournament and especially in the overtime win against Browning to make it to the championship. Coach Schultz said even though the team lost in the championship, they made a statement at the tournament. They can play tough with any team in the state.

“They showed their strengths this weekend,” coach Schultz said. “They were tired and still ran people into the grown.”

Superior returns home to play Plains Tuesday June 21 at 7 p.m. and travels to Hot Springs Thursday June 23 to play at 7 p.m.