Dougie Peoples of Butte Central and Laura Rosenleaf of Butte High have been named the Leskovar Honda Athletes of the Week.

Peoples is the first athlete to win the award two times. Leskovar intends to spread the recognition around to as many athletes as possible, but Peoples’ performance at the Western A Divisional tournament over the weekend simply cannot be ignored.

The BC senior scored 93 points in three games, leading the Maroons to their second straight divisional title. The defending Class A champions head to the Class A State tournament in Bozeman with a 20-1 record.

The 6-foot-4 Peoples scored 41 points as the Maroons held off a tough, talented Frenchtown team 72-65 in the championship game in Ronan. He scored 23 of BC’s 28 points in the fourth quarter.

“I honestly can’t say I ever seen anything quite like that,” BC coach Brodie Kelly said. “What he did in the fourth quarter was stuff of legends. He basically had a fan club in Ronan, and they were going nuts. He was getting buckets in the post, drives, threes, right, left.”

During the tournament, Peoples, who scored 33 points in a 60-57 semifinal win over Dillon, passed Kellie Johnson-Mead for second-place on Butte’s all-time prep scoring list. Going into State, Peoples has 1,581 points on his career. Johnson-Mead scored 1,530 in her great career.

Only the great Lexie Nelson has scored more high school points than Peoples. The Butte High star finished her career with 1,696 points.

Rosenleaf, also a senior, is a big reason why the Bulldog girls are surging as they head into the Western AA Divisional tournament in Kalispell.

In two games against Helena High and Helena Capital last week, Rosenleaf combined for 19 points, 21 rebounds, eight assists, four steals and two blocks.

She also tipped the ball away from Helena High to preserve the win after eighth grader Cadence Graham sank a 3-pointer with 3.5 seconds left as the Bulldogs downed the Bengals 51-50 at the Richardson Gym.

The 5-11 Rosenleaf has been a key contributor for the Bulldogs for the past three seasons. She is one of the best rebounders the school has ever seen.

“Laura is one of the hardest working kids I know,” Butte High coach Bryan Arntson said. “For her to be in the top three in rebounds in the Class AA the last two years at her size says a lot about how tough she is. She epitomizes what our program is about. Toughness, full of grit, and compete every day. She has been a joy to coach and look forward to seeing her compete for a couple more weeks.”

Leskovar Honda, home of the 20-year, 200,000-mile warranty, is honoring the finest student-athletes from the Mining City in an effort to encourage more children to get up, get out and try all kinds of sports and activities.