Butte High sophomore Cadence Graham and Butte Central senior Owen McPartland are this week’s Leskovar Honda Athletes of the Week.

This marks the second time this basketball season that Graham and McPartland took home the honors. Both earned the awards with big-time performances that came with their team’s season on the line.

Graham receives the girls honor after leading the Bulldogs to a 62-55 win over Helena Capital in a Western AA playoff game at the Richardson Gym.

The 5-foot-6 guard started off the scoring with a 3-pointer, and she added 17 more as the Bulldogs went wire to wire for the victory. Graham also dished out five assists and picked up three steals.

Graham and the Bulldogs will represent Butte High at the Class AA State tournament this week in Bozeman.

Through the first 20 games of the Bulldog season, Graham has scored 360 points, giving her an average of 18 points per game. She also averages 3.4 assists and 3.3 steals per game. She has knocked down 34 3-pointers on the campaign.

Graham has been a key contributor for the Bulldogs since she became the first Butte High girl to play on the varsity team as an eighth grader during the 2022-23 season.

McPartland takes home the boys’ honor after scoring 42 points in a heroic effort to try to keep the Maroons’ season alive. Central, though, fell 73-71 in a loser-out game to Bigfork at the Western A Divisional tournament.

McPartland sank seven 3-pointers — including a half-court shot at the buzzer — and went 7 for 7 from the free throw line. He tied Butte Central great Mike McLeod for second place on BC’s all-time single-game scoring list.

With the 42 points, McPartland is joined in the 40-point club for Butte boys only by McLeod, Butte Central’s Dougie Peoples (44 points in 2023), Butte Central’s Tom Kenney (41 in 1985) and Butte High’s Todd Hildreth (40 in 2005).

McPartland finished the season with 396 points. That’s an average of 19.8 points per game through 20 games. McPartland was a three-year varsity contributor for the Maroons. He ends his prep career with 969 varsity points.

For the third year, Leskovar Honda, home of the 20-year, 200,000-mile warranty, is teaming up with the ButteCast to honor 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.

Photo of Graham courtesy of Alycia Holland Photography. McPartland photo courtesy of Josie Trudgeon Photography.