Athletes of the Week

KSEN/K96- Bozeman trophy athletes of the week turned in big time performances on the biggest stage in high school basketball last weekend.

Following Fairfield's State Class B Championship victory by one point over defending champion Malta, Lady Eagles coach Dustin Gordon said, "we have a saying in Fairfield about big players stepping up in big games". That's exactly what senior Allix Godhahn did Saturday night with 17 points on four three-point shots, including the game-winner with 42 seconds left in the game. But it wasn't just offense in this low-scoring championship game. Gordon was quoted afterward saying Allix told him directly in the second half she wanted to cover Malta's Gatorade Player of the Year, Sophia Stiles. You have to acknowledge that it was a team defensive effort, but whatever they did, it worked, Malta shot just three of 17 in the second half. Allix Goldhahn and senior Kaitlyn Jones both came up with some big second half shots as Malta had senior, Natalie Klinker double and triple-teamed down low. Goldhahn's17 points included a perfect three for three at the line.

It was much the same kind of thing for our male athlete of the week six foot five junior, T.J. Reynolds of Shelby who opened the tournament with 21 points and 12 rebounds in the opening walk-away win over Lodge Grass. The heroics came on the second day of the tournament in a semi-final against Anaconda with Shelby down three and time running out. Reynolds sent the game into overtime. He hit another three in the overtime, but Shelby fell just short 68-64. Shelby, of course, came back on Saturday to win two games and bring home the third place trophy. T.J. had 16 and 15 respectively in those games and his dad, coach Tom Reynolds told up he's worked hard all year and the recognition is well-deserved.

The Shelby boys and the Fairfield girls needed big team efforts to accomplish what they did, with some individual heroics thrown in for good measure.

Congratulations to our KSEN/K96 - Bozeman Trophy Athletes of the Week; senior Allix Goldhahn of Fairfield and Junior T.J. Reynolds of Shelby. The Athlete of the Week is sponsored locally by McDonald's in Cut Bank. McDonald's honors our athletes with two free value meals each.

And we encourage fans, coaches, teammates and parents to nominate athletes of the week. If you think they've had an exceptional performance email me at mark.daniels@townsquaremedia.com.