From Harlem to Havre

Next winter, Harlem's L'Tia Lawrence won't just be one of the very best players on the Hi-Line, she won't just be one of the best players in Class B, she will be one of the best players in all of Montana girls high school basketball.

And, when senior year on the hardwood rolls around, she'll also be a Montana State University-Northern Skylight.

Over the weekend, Lawrence, currently a junior at Harlem, shined at the 33rd annual Hi-Line Invitational Tournament inside the Armory Gymnasium. She led the Class B team to the HIT championship, won the 3-point contest and was named HIT Girls MVP.

Lawrence also took care of a little business while in Havre, too, giving MSU-N head women's coach Chris Mouat her verbal commitment to play for the Skylights following her high school career. According to Mouat, Lawrence, a 5-9 point guard, will sign with the Skylights Tuesday afternoon.

"She's one of the best players in the state," Mouat said. "Right now. And she has a full year left to play. So we're very glad and very excited that she chose Northern, and it's really good for her to do this now because then she can sit back and focus on having a great senior year and on trying to help Harlem win a state championship."

With Lawrence leading the way, Harlem already got its first-ever shot at a state championship just three weeks ago, as the Wildcats, under the direction of L'Tia's dad Martin, reached their first-ever Class B state tournament. Harlem got there by winning the Northern B championship for the first time in school history, and Lawrence was a big reason why.

She averaged over 19 points per game in her junior season, while also leading the Wildcats in assists and steals. She was named Class B All-State for the third year in a row, and garnered District 2B First-Team All-Conference honors for the third straight season as well.

"She's a true point guard," Mouat said. "She's as good as anybody out there right now at that position. And she's grown. She's tall, long and rangy, and she can do it all. She can make the open three, she can get to the rim and finish and she's a great distributor of the basketball. She's super unselfish. She's just a great, true point guard in every sense of the word."

Lawrence is indeed a great point guard, and a talented scorer. She's averaged double figures for her entire high school career, and has multiple 30-point games in each of the last three seasons. She's also great off the basketball court, too.

Lawrence carries a 4.0 GPA at Harlem, and in the fall, is one of the top cross country runners in Class B, having earned All-State honors back in November.

So in other words, the Skylights aren't just getting a great guard from just down the road, they're getting an incredible person who seems to shine in everything she does.

"We're so glad L'Tia chose us, we're really excited about it," Mouat said. "She's a great player, a great student and a tremendous person. We're so excited that she chose to stay close to home for college, and she's going to be a big, big part of our program's future as we move forward."

Lawrence will officially sign with the Skylights at 3 p.m. Tuesday at Harlem High School.