Baxter signs with Carroll College

Megan Baxter's intent is clear – she wants to play basketball at the next level, and has played it well enough so far to earn that opportunity.

Arguably one of the best prep players in Thompson Falls hoop history, male or female, Megan signed on the dotted line, putting that commitment in writing last week.

Baxter, a three-time All-State B player for the Thompson Falls Blue Hawks, signed her NLI (National Letter of Intent) to play ball for the Carroll College Fighting Saints in a special signing ceremony at TFHS.

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, the Carroll players were given another year of eligibility and most plan to take advantage of that opportunity, meaning there will be a logjam of players in the Saints program for the next few years.

In order to address that issue, Carroll has formed a special junior varsity program, which will have a schedule of its own before and into the normal regular season. Baxter will initially be on that JV team, and varsity roster spots will be available to those players, depending on their performance and the varsity team's needs.

"Almost all the girls on last year's team are coming back for another year," Megan said. "So they are forming a JV team that will play 10-12 games before the regular season, and will then work out with the varsity after that."

The team Baxter is joining is of championship caliber. Coach Rachelle Sayers' Fighting Saints recently won the 2021 Frontier Conference tournament championship, defeating Western Montana 70-62 in the title game. The Saints finished play with a sparkling 21-3 record after falling to Lewis and Clark State 76-67 in the first round of the NAIA tournament, and were ranked No. 6 nationally in the final NAIA power poll.

A 4.0 honor student throughout her time at Thompson Falls, Megan is reportedly leaning towards earning a degree in business at Carroll and possibly going on to law school after that. Before going out into the real world, however, Baxter still wants to play some more basketball, anytime and anywhere she can get a game.

She was able to do just that two weeks ago in Havre.

Megan was the only player from the Western B division to compete in 2021 H.I.T. (the Hi-Line Invitational) played two weeks ago in Havre. After a year without it, the 2021 H.I.T. was a hit, and Megan was part of it.

Teams for the H.I.T. are comprised of players from each Montana High School Association classification, including Classes AA, A, B and C, and is played in a round robin format, with the best teams being awarded spots in the finals based on those efforts.

As part of the Class B girls team in the locally famous Hi-Line Invitational, Megan and her teammates took second in the annual all-star tournament played in Havre each year (except 2020 of course) by high school players from all corners of our rather large state of Montana.

The H.I.T. has become an annual rite of basketball passage of sorts in Montana, looked forward to by fans from all corners of our vast state.

As indicated earlier, Baxter was voted All-State B three times and District 7B all-conference all four years of her Thompson Falls playing career, Baxter earned an invitation to the prestigious tournament in faraway Havre based on her excellent play for the Lady Hawks last winter, and throughout her career.

"Coach (Chadd) Laws called me in and said I had been invited and I was excited to play," she said, "and it was fun, a really different experience playing with really good players from around the state like that."

Baxter said the overall size of the players was one of the biggest differences. Accustomed to being one of the tallest players on the floor (at 6-1, she played center for the Hawks), Megan felt cut down to size somewhat in Havre.

"A lot of the guards were as tall as or taller than me and I was the third shortest post player in the tournament," she said. "All the players there were really good, three on our team have signed with Division-1 schools, it was really fun getting the chance to play in an environment like that."

Earning their way into the girls' title game Saturday night, the Class B squad lost to the Class C team 61-49 in the chipper, and Baxter scored six points in that game.

The B girls opened the tourney with a 56-48 win over that same Class C team in the first round Thursday, moving on to defeat the Class A girls 72-40 in their next contest. Megan counted six points in the win over Class C and eight more in the win over Class A.

The Class AA team defeated the B girls 61-51 in the next game and Baxter had four points.

Baxter said the H.I.T. coaches tried to get all their players in, and that winning and losing may have not been the most important thing, showcasing abilities seemed to be the main goal. "There were 11 of us and the coaches wanted to rotate everyone in," she said. "We each ended up playing 15 to 22 minutes per game, giving everyone time to show their skills."

On the boys' side of the H.I.T., the Class AA all-stars defeated the Class A team 63-48 in the championship.