The long-range lineage is legendary when it comes to the Lady Griz of Lewistown.
Since the turn of the 21st century, the picturesque small town in Central Montana has produced a trio of the greatest shooters in University of Montana women’s basketball history.
Katie Edwards painted one of the Treasure State’s most prestigious prep careers between Denton and Lewistown, capped by leading Fergus High to the 2001 Class A state title before coming to Missoula and tearing the Dahlberg Arena nets for four years.
Former UM guard Sonya (Rogers) Stokken/by UM Athletics
After helping Lewistown to the 2004 and 2005 Class A state titles, Sonya (Rogers) Stokken experienced unparalleled success during her time as a Lady Griz player, winning three straight Big Sky Conference championships and piling up 101 wins while using a lightning-quick release to become one of the most accurate 3-point threats to ever grace the league.
Now Stokken is in her third year as a Lady Griz assistant and has played a hand in the development of the latest in the line of long-range assassins from Fergus County. UM senior McCalle Feller, a former walk-on who barely played until last season, is in the midst of a historic season as Montana tries to defend its Big Sky crown.
“Boy, there sure has been some great ones from (Lewistown),” UM 38th-year head coach Robin Selvig said in January. “I can’t point to anything other than their hard work. I don’t know what else. They have normal water in Lewistown (laughs).”
Take one look at the 3-point section of the Lady Griz record book and the prolific nature of the three former Golden Eagles is in full display. Seven of the top nine single-season 3-point totals in school history are owned by one of the three Lewistown natives. Edwards and Stokken are two of four Lady Griz to make more than 200 3-pointers in their careers, while Feller’s 161 triples in just two seasons as a starter is good for sixth in UM history.
The 5-foot-9 Edwards drilled 236 3-pointers, the most in UM history and the fourth-most in the history of the Big Sky Conference. Her nine 3-pointers against Sacramento State in 2005 still stands as an all-time league mark and her 1,400 points are the sixth-most every by a Lady Griz.
“There’s not a whole lot else to do than live in a gym,” Edwards said on Thursday. “It’s definitely a fun thing to be a part of with that unique group. Lewistown was a great place to be. The town is so supportive, so welcoming and I’m still grateful how welcoming they were for me being an outsider (from Denton) coming in.”
UM guard McCalle Feller
The 5-foot-6 Stokken played sparingly her freshman year, the same season Edwards was earning her second straight first-team All-Big Sky honor. Stokken said “I definitely looked up to Katie and she took me and the other freshmen under her wing.”
Stokken’s sophomore season, she burst onto the scene by nailing 42 3-pointers with her trademark flick of the wrist release that stayed consistent regardless of her body position. Stokken hit a school-record 72 3-pointers as a junior in 2008, leading the nation by shooting 48.6 percent from distance during UM’s 25-7 season. The following year, Stokken drilled 71 3-pointers and earned first-team All-Big Sky honors as Montana won the league for a third straight season. She finished with 206 made 3-pointers, the third-most ever by a Lady Griz. She finished with 1,320 career points, the 11th-most in Lady Griz history. Her 41.8 percent career mark from deep is a school record and the third-best mark in the Big Sky.
“The thing pops out in my mind is the access to gyms,” Stokken said of her hometown. “There’s a gym in Lewistown (the Lewistown Civic Center) that is literally open from early in the morning until late at night. You can get there at all times. And in high school, I had a key to the high school gym. There’s not much to do there so we would just be in the gym always trying to get better.”
Feller, a 5-foot-10 versatile athlete who led Lewistown to back-to-back Class A volleyball titles, idolized Edwards and particularly Stokken growing up. Feller’s adopted parents bought their Lewistown home from the Rogers family when Sonya and her folks moved to Butte for eight years — eventually returning before Sonya’s junior year of high school.
“I grew up in Sonya’s bedroom,” Feller said. “Literally. She used to live in the house my parents live in now. It must be the Lady Griz house.”
UM assistant coach Sonya Stokken/by UM Athletics
When the time came to make a decision on college, Feller remembered all the extra time spent working on her stroke at Fergus High or the Lewistown Civic Center. She decided to walk on to the Lady Griz.
“I watched Sonya play and Katie Edwards play,” Feller said. “I always mimicked the style. I idolized them growing up. And my cousin Michela Schmitz played with Katie. That’s a good thing to remember. When I was little, that’s who I idolized so there might be some little girl up in Lewistown idolizing me.”
Despite missing the last three games with an ankle injury, Feller is in the middle of a two-year shooting stretch unmatched by anyone in program history save Stokken. As a junior, Feller made 67 3-pointers, the fifth-best single-season total ever at UM. With at least six games left to play — Feller is likely to return on Saturday afternoon as Montana hosts rival Montana State — Feller has a chance to break Stokken’s single-season record.
“She’s put a ton of work in,” Stokken said of her pupil. “She’s stayed every summer and committed herself to get better. She was similar to us, like we were always in the gym in high school, she was always in the gym shooting with her dad. I remember seeing her and her dad shooting.”
Feller is averaging 17.8 points per game this season, third in the Big Sky, and with 63 more points, she will become the 32nd Lady Griz to surpass 1,000 points in her career. She is 12 threes out of the Big Sky’s all-time top 20 and she is 25 triples away from Mandy Morales for fifth on UM’s all-time list.
“She’s a tremendous athlete,” MSU head coach Tricia Binford said earlier this week. “Her ability to get shots off the bounce is tough to defend. I think with her athleticism and her ability to create a shot coming off a screen action makes her one of the league’s most complex players.”
UM guard McCalle Feller
After starring at Class C Denton for the first two years of her high school career, Edwards and her family moved to Fergus County. Edwards tried to model her game after Treasure State stars like Havre’s Lori Payne, an eventual University of Washington standout and Winifred’s Amy Meckling, who went on to star at Montana State.
The daughter of two Montana State alums — her father, Wayne was a first-team All-Big Sky tailback for MSU in 1973 — became a star in Lewistown as her myth grew around the state to the level of those she idolized.
Edwards averaged more than 29 points per game as a junior and a senior, capping her career with a state title and finishing with 2,650 points, the second-most in the history of the state of Montana. She received scholarship offers from Colorado State, Idaho State, UM and MSU. After much deliberation, she elected to follow in the footsteps of her cousin, John Edwards, the quarterback of Montana’s 2001 national championship football team rather than become a Bobcat.
A decade after her final season, she is the assistant vice president of First Interstate Bank in Billings and a proud part of the Lady Griz legacy.
“The Lady Griz family has such a strong culture,” Edwards said. “You talk to other gals who played college basketball and they don’t really stay involved and stay in touch. One thing that is instilled in all Lady Griz is we are all so proud to be a part of that program, so proud to have played for Robin and Shannon (Schweyen) and we want to instill that in the younger players below us. I’m so proud that tradition continues. It definitely shapes who you are.”
UM guard McCalle Feller/by UM Athletics
The common thread among the three snipers is the meticulous attention each paid to honing their shooting strokes. Edwards remembers seeing Feller as a little girl at the Civic Center when Edwards was a high school star working with legendary Lewistown basketball mentor Ron Miller.
Stokken remembers finding ways into the Civic Center at all hours of the day or night and if the gym wasn’t open, finding her high school head coach Troy Hudson to let her into the high school gym. Even in the winter, Stokken would shoot in the driveway with gloves on her hands.
By the time she was a prep upper classmen, she would finish practice, go home for dinner only to return to either the high school or the Civic Center to shoot with Alira Carpenter, a standout in her own right who scored more than 1,000 points at Montana State Billings. Show up early to a Lady Griz practice and you’ll be sure to find Stokken working with a player on their shooting stroke. Often times, it’s Feller Stokken is helping mentor.
“It’s so fun to watch Sonya coach McCalle now,” Edwards said. “I honestly think I get more joy out of watching them than anything. I think I’m getting more into it now that I’m getting older. I love supporting them and it’s great to see them being successful and representing small towns in Montana and representing what the Lady Griz are.”
Montana guard McCalle Feller
Feller might be the most prolific gunner of the standout trio. Her 210 attempts from beyond the arc last season were a school record, one she might’ve broken if not for her injury. In 21 games, she is averaging 7.5 3-point attempts per outing. It’s a mentality she’s honed since a kid and one that has helped her carry on a legacy.
“My dad in high school used to shoot with me all the time and he gave me the mentality that every shot is a new shot,” Feller said. “I don’t even know if I’m a great shooter but I just throw it up a lot. Maybe I’m just not giving myself any credit. I did put a lot of time in the gym. If you want to be a shooter, you just have to get in the gym and shoot. That’s definitely something you learn in Lewistown.”
Photos by Brooks Nuanez or noted. All Rights Reserved.
