Five Bulldogs receive honors

Hudson Luedtke and Cadence Graham are All-State basketball players once again.

The Class AA released its All-State and all-conference teams Thursday, and Luedtke and Graham were two of five Bulldogs to receive honors. (All-State teams; All-Conference girls; All-Conference boys)

Elli Graham received a second-team all-conference nod on the girls’ side, while Cayde Stajcar and Brady Hanson took home all-conference honorable mention on the boys’ team.

Luedtke, a senior, earned his fourth All-State nod. Cadence Graham, a junior, was named All-State for the third time. Both were named first-team all-conference, too. Graham was also named the Western AA Offensive Player of the Year along with Avory DeCoit of Missoula Big Sky. Luedtke shared Offensive Player of the Year with Missoula Sentinel’s Lincoln Rogers.

Luedtke averaged 24.3 points per game, finishing a tick below Rogers (24.9) for the Class AA lead. Luedtke also once again led the Class AA in assists, dropping 5.1 dimes per game. He finished his career with 1, 658 points, which is the most by any Bulldog boy in history.

He is the only Butte High boy to take home All-State honors four times. Luedtke, who averaged 6.1 rebounds per game, also pulled off that trick in football.

Graham finished third in the Class AA with 19.7 points per game, trailing only DeCoite (21.7) and Billings Skyview’s Kiki Lonebear (20.9). Through four seasons, including a reserve role as an eighth grader, Graham has scored 1,351 career points. She trails only Lexie Nelson (1,696) on the Butte High girls’ all-time list.

Elli Graham, a freshman, averaged 7.4 points per game for the Bulldogs, playing mostly off the bench. She also contributed to the Bulldog varsity team as an eighth grader. She sank 30 3-pointers on the season, trailing only her sister’s 48 for the team lead.

Stajcar returned to the Bulldog basketball team after two years off. He averaged 6.2 points and a team-best 7.5 rebounds per game. He was also a force on defense.

Hanson, a sophomore who probably already holds the unofficial school record for career dunks, averaged 9.7 points and 4.9 rebounds per game.