KSEN/K96 Bozeman Trophy Athlete of the Week
(Undated) – The KSEN/K96—Bozeman Trophy Athlete of the Week award has always been about those athlete’s who, in any given week, come up with just a little more than expected. That’s the case with this week’s male Athlete of the Week, but it’s also about recognizing things that don’t always show up in the scorebook.
And with the selection of our female Athlete of the Week we’re backtracking just a bit because the performance may not have been the overall best in that week but it was certainly worth the recognition.
Male Athlete of the Week honors go to Shelby Sr. Kolby Lohr. Most Shelby fans know that the Coyotes had two key injuries heading into the State B Tournament and that pretty much forced them into keeping all 5 starters on the floor for all 4 quarters, in 4 grueling games.
If that wasn’t enough, Shelby Head Coach Tom Reynolds says, “Kolby ran the floor every single transition, getting back on defense against great transition teams which included Lodge Grass twice.” As a Sr. Captain, “whatever we needed done, Kolby would do it and give it 110%.” So many things don’t show up in the box score but are vital to a team’s success.
With that said, just as we pointed out with Alexa Johnson of Fairfield last week, Lohr did show up in the box score on Saturday night with 13-points against Lodge Grass on 5-9 shooting from the field, 2nd only to Rhett Reynolds 18-points, and it helped Shelby stay in that game and in the lead thru three quarters. In the two Lodge Grass games, Lohr never left the floor and in the other two for seconds only.
Our female Athlete of the Week, because this was just too good to go unnoticed, is Sunburst So. Claire Bucklin. In the opening game of the 10C District Tournament, the Refiners Guard broke loose with 35 points from 5-2pt field goals, 4-3’s and 13-15 from the free throw line. Sunburst Coach Tyler Tharp says she’s a heckuva player and they weren’t able to confirm that the 35 was a school record, but they did know it was a record at least back to the early 90’s or late 80’s.
Bucklin was not immune to scoring, she had two 28-point games during the regular season and averaged well into double figures, but when the tournament began she stepped it up even one more notch.
Congratulations to our KSEN/K96- Bozeman Trophy Athlete’s of the Week, Sr. Kolby Lohr of Shelby and So. Claire Bucklin of Sunburst. The Athlete of the Week is sponsored locally by McDonald’s in Cut Bank. McDonald’s honors our athlete’s with two free value meals each.