MONROE - On Senior Night, shooting took full throttle in the Cheesemakers' 55-37 win over Stoughton on Friday.
Monroe started the game on fire, hitting their first six shots and bolting out to a 13-1 lead just 2 minutes, 38 seconds into the game.
Senior guard Emily Rufenacht, junior Gwen Sutter, and sophomore Kyleigh Sellnow all hit 3-pointers in the opening quarter, and the Cheese led 16-5 headed into the second.
Monroe kept rolling in the second period, going on a 14-5 run and to take a 20-point (30-10) lead with 2:26 to play.
"We shot it really well," Monroe head coach Kevin Keen said. "Gwen and Kyleigh Sellnow hit their first couple shots and we just started rolling from there."
Rufenacht, who has stepped up her play over the past month, scored all 10 of her points in the first half.
"Emily has played really well the last couple of weeks," Keen said.
The Lady Cheesemakers balanced out the scoring throughout the half. Sutter and Sellnow each had five points, Ashley Hermanson scored four, Chelsea Brice had a bucket and Kylee Ritschard lit up the paint, scoring three buckets in the half off of putbacks.
Ritschard and senior forward Sommer Bertalot saw plenty of action with junior Jamie Armstong not in attendance. Armstrong voluntarily left the team for the weekend to play in a volleyball tournament.
"Whenever you take away a 6-2 post player, it will hurt. But our kids did what they had to do. Kylee did a good job of coming out and playing well," Keen said.
By halftime, the Cheesemakers led 32-12.
In the second half, Stoughton still couldn't find a way around Monroe. The Cheesemakers reached their biggest lead of the night at 29 points three minutes into the fourth quarter when Hermanson hit a jumper to make it 54-25. Hermanson finished the contest with a game-high 16 points.
Sellnow scored 11 points in the game and Sutter finished with 8.
"Emily played a very good game tonight and it was nice to see Sommer and Missy (Marissa Ubert) get in and play well," Keen said.
Monroe shot 75 percent in the game, and had seven of its 11 players reach the scorebook.
"I'll take that," Keen said of his team's shooting percentage.
One of the Cheesemaker's top bench players, Morgan Kennison, suffered a concussion a few weeks ago and was cleared by doctors to play before the game. However, the junior came down with the flu and was unable to play. Keen said that having her back would help tremendously.
Monroe now just needs to beat Monona Grove next Thursday in order to split with Madison Edgewood for a share of the Badger South conference crown.
"We still know that the season is not over. The boys team has seen a couple games that didn't go their way when everyone expected it. You just never know in high school basketball. You have to be ready to play every night. We're going to spend the next three days of practice to prepare and get ready to beat Monona Grove," Keen said.
Monroe started the game on fire, hitting their first six shots and bolting out to a 13-1 lead just 2 minutes, 38 seconds into the game.
Senior guard Emily Rufenacht, junior Gwen Sutter, and sophomore Kyleigh Sellnow all hit 3-pointers in the opening quarter, and the Cheese led 16-5 headed into the second.
Monroe kept rolling in the second period, going on a 14-5 run and to take a 20-point (30-10) lead with 2:26 to play.
"We shot it really well," Monroe head coach Kevin Keen said. "Gwen and Kyleigh Sellnow hit their first couple shots and we just started rolling from there."
Rufenacht, who has stepped up her play over the past month, scored all 10 of her points in the first half.
"Emily has played really well the last couple of weeks," Keen said.
The Lady Cheesemakers balanced out the scoring throughout the half. Sutter and Sellnow each had five points, Ashley Hermanson scored four, Chelsea Brice had a bucket and Kylee Ritschard lit up the paint, scoring three buckets in the half off of putbacks.
Ritschard and senior forward Sommer Bertalot saw plenty of action with junior Jamie Armstong not in attendance. Armstrong voluntarily left the team for the weekend to play in a volleyball tournament.
"Whenever you take away a 6-2 post player, it will hurt. But our kids did what they had to do. Kylee did a good job of coming out and playing well," Keen said.
By halftime, the Cheesemakers led 32-12.
In the second half, Stoughton still couldn't find a way around Monroe. The Cheesemakers reached their biggest lead of the night at 29 points three minutes into the fourth quarter when Hermanson hit a jumper to make it 54-25. Hermanson finished the contest with a game-high 16 points.
Sellnow scored 11 points in the game and Sutter finished with 8.
"Emily played a very good game tonight and it was nice to see Sommer and Missy (Marissa Ubert) get in and play well," Keen said.
Monroe shot 75 percent in the game, and had seven of its 11 players reach the scorebook.
"I'll take that," Keen said of his team's shooting percentage.
One of the Cheesemaker's top bench players, Morgan Kennison, suffered a concussion a few weeks ago and was cleared by doctors to play before the game. However, the junior came down with the flu and was unable to play. Keen said that having her back would help tremendously.
Monroe now just needs to beat Monona Grove next Thursday in order to split with Madison Edgewood for a share of the Badger South conference crown.
"We still know that the season is not over. The boys team has seen a couple games that didn't go their way when everyone expected it. You just never know in high school basketball. You have to be ready to play every night. We're going to spend the next three days of practice to prepare and get ready to beat Monona Grove," Keen said.
