KSEN/K96 Bozeman Trophy Athletes of this week are fairly obvious choices following the State B girls and boys basketball tournaments. It’s always a difficult choice at this point in the season since teams that climb to the top of the ladder are great teams with big time players up and down the lineup. With that said, nobody was bigger than Choteau senior Derrek Durocher our male athlete of the week.   Durocher not only led the Bulldogs to their second straight State B Championship and 52 straight wins, he did it in style on Friday night when he exploded for a career high 36 points on 9-12 shooting from behind the 3-point line. And right back to that team aspect, Durocher immediately credited his teammates for recognizing just how hot he was and continually feeding him the ball, in a follow up story in the Great Falls Tribune.   Durocher also led the bulldogs in scoring in the opener of the State B against Missoula Loyola with 20 and then it was Dylan Pannabecker who pulled the offensive trigger in the championship game win over Bigfork with 27 points but Durocher still added 19 and was 7-7 from the line for a 3-game average of 25 points per game.

Our female Athlete of the Week did similar things for the Fairfield lady eagles who came up just two points short against a Malta team who hasn’t lost in 52 games. Sr. Natalie Klinker was not only Fairfield’s leading scorer for the tournament with 24 against St. Labre in the Friday semifinal, and 19 in the championship game, she also was their leading rebounder with double-doubles both nights.     Natalie is a fierce competitor around the basket and had an amazing 12 rebounds in the St. Labre game and 13 in the Malta game.

One other note on the team aspect……the Browning Lady Indians completed a very successful season finishing 3rd in the State A Tournament behind their leader senior Tiara Gilham who averaged almost 20 points in four games there.

Congratulations to the Choteau Bulldogs and senior Derrek Durocher and the Fairfield Lady Eagles and senior Natalie Klinker, our KSEN/K96 Bozeman Trophy Athletes of the Week. 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.

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