After tough losses, Monti tops Midland

GIRLS BASKETBALL

     A home non-conference win over Midland helped salvage a week in which the Monticello High School girls basketball team lost a pair of River Valley Conference games.

     The Panthers (5-2, 6-2) fell at Iowa City Regina by a score of 74-45 on Tuesday, Dec. 13; lost a tough one to rival Cascade Dec. 16, 42-37; and then topped Midland 68-30 Dec. 17 at home.

     Despite the losses, head coach Donnie Kremer said he is feeling good about the team’s performance as it heads into the holiday break.

     “I am extremely pleased at how well we are playing as a team,” Kremer said. “We have improved so much throughout the first half of the season. Our schedule has not been very easy, but I think we have handled it very well. We have definitely exceeded expectations of all the experts.”

     Monticello stayed close with Regina, the top-ranked team in Class 2A, trailing by just six points at one point in the third quarter. But the Regals took control after that, and outscored the Panthers 20-4 in the final period to pull away.

     “They were able to pull away from us because we did not do a very good job of blocking out,” Kremer said. “They had seven offensive rebounds that turned into three-point plays. Plus they have really good overall speed, and I think they finally just wore us down.”

     Taylor McDonald led the Panthers in scoring with 15 points, and had four assists. Lauren Ries had seven points and a team-high six rebounds.

     “One positive was that we did a good job of handling their press,” Kremer said. “Another was that we proved we can play with any team when we put our mind to it. We also shot very well from the free throw line (15-for-20).”

     Monticello led for most of the first half in the Cascade game Friday, after taking a 10-4 lead in the first quarter, thanks mostly to McDonald’s eight points.

     Cascade rallied to take an 11-10 lead early in the second period, but the Panthers answered with an 8-2 run and led 18-13 at halftime.

     The teams traded leads in the third quarter before Monticello emerged with a 28-27 lead.

     The Panthers took a 34-33 lead on a three-point basket by Ries with 3:40 to play. Cascade scored the next six points to go up 39-34 with 38.2 seconds left. Ries answered with another basket with 28 seconds left, but could manage just one more point the rest of the way.

     “We were not very patient down the stretch,” Kremer said. “We had some costly turnovers and bad decisions that led to easy buckets for them. Our help defense was not very good as well.”

     Another key was the play of Cascade freshman Nicole McDermott, who had 10 of her 20 points in the fourth quarter.

     A strong start gave the Panthers control in Saturday’s Midland game, which was moved from 5 p.m. to 1 p.m. because of impending weather. Monticello led 20-10 after one quarter and 38-17 at halftime, before going on to the 68-30 win.

     “It was very important for us to bounce back,” Kremer said. “We needed to come out and play well after a couple of tough games. I thought they did an excellent job of coming out strong right from the start of the game. We were very sharp on offense and defense.”

     Ries scored 19 points, grabbed nine rebounds and made five steals against Midland. McDonald added 15 points. Shay Stephen had five assists, and Rylee Warthen had five rebounds and two steals.

Dec. 13

Monti   16    6   19   4 – 45

Regina 16  15  23  20 – 74

     MONTICELLO (45) – Taylor McDonald 4-6 6-8 15, Shay Stephen 2-6 0-0 4, Lauren Ries 0-6 7-8 7, Maddie Lambert 2-3 0-2 4, Rylee Warthen 4-4 0-0 9, Jacqueline Petersen 1-2 00-0 2, Rileigh Lambert 0-1 0-0 0, Maddie Fellinger 0-2 2-2 2, Jordan Kuper 1-3 0-0 2, Carly Hayen 0-0 0-0 0, Caitlyn Cruise 0-0 0-0 0, Macy McDonough 0-0 0-0 0, Paige Holub 0-0 0-0 0, Savanah Kremer 0-0 0-0 0, Meredith Melchert 0-0 0-0 0, Anna Loes 0-1 0-0 0, Samantha Fritz 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 14-34 15-20 45.

     IOWA CITY REGINA (74) – Mary Crompton 8-14 1-1 19, Alexa Lehman 2-4 0-0 5, Sarah Lehman 6-14 4-5 16, Greyson Dumont 0-3 0-0 0, Alex Wiese 8-12 4-6 20, Kennedy Wallace 4-12 0-0 12, Katie Bracken 1-1 0-0 2, Maeve Dunne 0-0 0-00, Emma Corkery 0-0 0-0 0, Maeve Dunne 0-0 0-0 0, Megan Wick 0-2 0-0 0, Katie Dunn 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 29-62 9-12 74.

     Three-pointers: McDonald, Warthen; Wallace 4, Crompton 2, A. Lehman.

     Rebounds: Regina 29, Monticello 27 (Ries 6, McDonald 5).

     Total fouls: Regina 21, Monticello 14.

Dec. 16

Cas.        9   4 14 15  – 42

Monti    10   8 10   9  – 37

     CASCADE (42) – Nicole McDermott 8-10 4-7 20, Anna Hunt 0-3 0-0 0, Lisa Tucker 2-6 0-0 6, Riley Takes 1-4 2-4 4, Abbie Ruggeberg 0-6 4-8 4, Anne Ryan 2-5 3-4 9, Zoe Ryan 0-0 0-0 0, Noelle Green 0-0 0-0 0, Laura Kremer 0-0 0-0 0, Rose Strang 0-0 0-0 0, Rachel Trumm 0-0 0-0 0, Jordan Simon 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 13-35 13-23 42.

     MONTICELLO (37) – Taylor McDonald 2-8 5-6 11, Shay Stephen 1-5 0-0 3, Lauren Ries 3-10 2-2 9, Maddie Lambert 1-2 0-0 2, Rylee Warthen 0-2 4-6 4, Jordan Kuper 3-6 0-0 6, Jacqueline Petersen 1-1 0-0 2, Maddie Fellinger 0-5 0-0 0, Rileigh Lambert 0-0 0-0 0, Caitlyn Cruise 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 11-39 11-14 37

     Three-pointers:  A. Ryan 2, Tucker; McDonald 2, Stephen, Ries.

     Rebounds: Monticello 28 (Ries 6, McDonald 4, Stephen 4, Warthen 4), Cascade 22.

     Total fouls: Monticello 16, Cascade 13.

Dec. 17

Midland  10   7   9   4  – 30

Monti      20 18 19 11 – 68

     MONTICELLO (68) – Taylor McDonald 4-8 4-5 15, Shay Stephen 2-7 0-2 5, Lauren Ries 6-14 5-6 19, Maddie Lambert 4-7 0-0 8, Rylee Warthen 1-2 1-2 3, Maddie Fellinger 2-2 0-0 4, Jordan Kuper 2-6 0-2 4, Jacqueline Petersen 0-0 0-0 0, Rileigh Lambert 0-1 0-0 0, Carly Hayen 1-5 1-5 3, Macy McDonough 0-0 1-2 1, Anna Loes 2-3 0-2 4, Savanah Kremer 1-1 0-0 2, Samantha Fritz 0-1 0-0 0, Caitlyn Cruise 0-0 0-0 0, Paige Holub 0-1 0-0 0, Meredith Melchert 0-0 0-0 0.

     Three-pointers: McDonald 3, Ries 2, Stephen.

     Rebounds: Monticello 48 (Ries 9, Warthen 5, Kuper 5).

     Total fouls: Monticello 18.