Out of your comfort zone is right where the Lady Cats are most comfortable.

Never comfortable to play against, Superior coach Jeff Schultz and his never-say-die Lady Cats went down scratching and clawing for every point at the Western C divisional tournament in Butte last week, falling 67-19 to Shields Valley Thursday and 45-31 to Manhattan Christian Friday.

Finishing play for the season with a 16-7 record, the Cats were forced to go without leading scorer Josie Crabb through the last several weeks and also without senior starter Maggie Haworth in Butte due to an injury she sustained at the 14C tourney in Polson last week.

Without Crabb, the Cats still managed to win second place in the District 14C tournament. Without Haworth on top of being without Crabb may have been a little too much to overcome in the Western C.

“We’re not making excuses, we had a lot of girls step up and play well,” Schultz said. “But it was hard to replace the scoring and leadership of Josie and Maggie, especially in a tournament like this.”

Shields Valley, which went on to earn a spot in a Western C challenge game Monday with West Yellowstone, proved to be a tough opponent right off the bat for the Cats. The Lady Rebels roared out to a 19-4 lead after the first quarter and kept the heat on the rest of the way.

Sophomore Ava White led Superior against Shields Valley with eight points, Maryisa Swope added four, Lani Ruthford three and Lily Jasper and Perri Jasper two apiece.

Gaige Taylor scored 15 points for Shields Valley, Mylee Peterson added 14 and Sierra Wilcox 12.

Back on court Friday against Manhattan Christian, the Lady Cats played great basketball in the first quarter in building a 14-7 lead before the Eagles roared back to take a 19-16 lead by halftime.

White again led Superior in scoring with nine points this time, Swope added eight, Makenzie Reum six, Lily Jasper five and Perri Jasper three.

Emily Straatman scored 19 points for Manhattan Christian and Karissa VanKirk 15.

Schultz said he is going to miss his seniors Perri Jasper, Swope, Reum and Howarth. “Really going to miss those girls and all they brought to the program,” he said. “They played very hard for us and will be hard to replace.”

Superior has now advanced on to the Western C divisional tournament 12 of the 18 years that Schultz has coached the Lady Cats. He looks to build around Crabb, already one of the most prolific scorers in Superior High School history, White and all the other returning players he should have at his disposal next season.

“We will miss our seniors but have a good group coming back next year,” he said. "We look forward to getting after it again.”