MONROE — The Cheesemakers opened its girls basketball season with a narrow win over Elkhorn on Dec. 28, then lost its home opener to New Glarus five days later. Meanwhile, the Knights improved to 8-3 on the season, picking up a key win over Lakeside Lutheran during the break.
“It was a good challenge,” New Glarus coach Kevin Parman said. “They did a lot of great things that they didn’t do the other night, so hats off to them — they saw what they needed to get better in film and did that. That’s what good programs do right, and they’re headed into the right direction.”
The start of Monroe’s season was delayed more than a month due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Given that the team has just three returning players, it means that the young Cheesemakers have had to mesh on the court quickly in order to compete. Those ups and downs were on full display in the first two games.
“There’s going to be some speed bumps along the way,” first-year Monroe head coach Patrick Kenny said. “Our girls are still learning to just play with each other — that New Glarus team has some young players that are talented, but they’ve also been playing for 11 games now. We’re still working on trying to go 5-on-5. Fortunately, we’ve got a couple of great leaders.”
There’s going to be some speed bumps along the way. Our girls are still learning to just play with each other — that New Glarus team has some young players that are talented, but they’ve also been playing for 11 games now. We’re still working on trying to go 5-on-5. Fortunately, we’ve got a couple of great leaders.Patrick Kenny, Monroe coach
Dec. 28: Monroe 50, Elkhorn 48
In the season-opening win at Elkhorn, Monroe led by 6 at halftime, only to let the Elks come all the way back and take the lead. The Cheesemakers trailed by 5 points with about 3 minutes to play.
“The girls showed a lot of fight. We were able to put a little pressure on Elkhorn and forced them into some turnovers,” Kenny said.
Megan Benzschawel had a basket to put Monroe ahead by a point, and the Cheesemakers were able to get a few late defensive stops. With 7.5 seconds left, sophomore guard Lily Bobak hit a free throw to extend the lead to two.
“They ran a play and we were able to take away their first two options, but they were still able to get a really good look from 3 at the end, and fortunately it missed,” Kenny said. “Overall, it was just a really good feeling to see the girls back out on the court and see their excitement. We’ve got a lot to improve upon, but it was a great team effort all around.”
Benzschawel led Monroe with 16 points and 11 rebounds. She surpassed Marissa Young (858) and Kelsey Hendrickson (860) on the school’s all-time scoring list and now sits ninth overall. She is 19 points behind Amy Bahler and 41 away from Sara Deignan for seventh place.
Breanna Giasson had 10 points for Monroe, as did Sloane Ambrose.
New Glarus 52, Lakeside Lutheran 42
Also on Dec. 28, New Glarus defeated Lakeside Lutheran in a Capitol Conference crossover game.
Jaylynn Benson paced the Glarner Knights with 17 points, while Grace Nommenson had 11 and Lindsey Schadewaldt 9.
“Honestly, I’m just super proud of the girls and their fight, because that’s a good, good basketball team,” Parman said.
New Glarus led 33-26 at halftime, and held on in the second half, despite a slow start in scoring.
“They’ve got good size and they’re aggressive, so we had to try to do our best to keep them off the boards. At times we did a great job, and then there were times where they got two or three shots off,” Parman said. “We weathered the storm and the girls battled the whole time against a really good team, so I’m pretty happy right now.”
Jan. 2: New Glarus 57, Monroe 49
Five days later, the Knights and Cheesemakers met up at Monroe High School’s first home athletic competition since the 2020 regional boys basketball playoffs.
It did not start as the Cheesemakers had hoped, as New Glarus opened the game on a 17-0 run over the course of the first five minutes. In fact, Monroe didn’t get its first bucket until the 11:42 mark of the first half, when Ambrose scored in transition.
“They came out hot and hit a lot of shots early. We didn’t do a great job defending and contesting those shots,” Kenny said. “(New Glarus) brought a lot of energy and intensity and pressure that we hadn’t seen from before and they were able to force us into some early turnovers.”
In the Knights’ hot start, it was the jump shot that was working the best. Benson hit two 3s with Schadewalt adding another 3. Peyton Yaun hit a pair of jumpers as well, with Kenny calling two timeouts in the first seven minutes of the game.
“We got off to the quick start that we wanted. We had some mental breaks that we talked about in the huddle, you know, finishes and things like that. But that’s what we can go back and look at now for our next game and get better at,” Parman said.
While Monroe found itself down, it was not out. The Cheesemakers responded to the 17-0 deficit with an 11-0 run over the next five minutes to bring the game back to within 6 points. A 10-5 run gave New Glarus a double-digit lead again, but by halftime Monroe had cut it to 29-23.
“We talked about this being (Monroe’s) second game — imagine if it was their 10th game,” Parman said. Throughout the game, the Knights struggled on the glass. “They have great size and good athleticism. We’re not the smallest team, but we’re not overly built either. We all have to do our job and box out — if we want to run, we’ve got to box out, right? It’s super important.”
Another strong start to the second half buried the Cheesemakers into a 13-point deficit with just over 13 minutes to play, but again, Monroe didn’t give up. Over the final 6:30 of the contest, Monroe never trailed by more than eight points, and routinely kept the game within 2-3 possessions.
“We were able to slow the game down and tried to battle back one possession at a time,” Kenny said. The girls continued to show that fight, and once we were able to get it back to a couple of possessions, it kind of went a little back and forth.”
Benzschawel, a returning all-conference player, led Monroe with 14 points and moved past Becky Stokes to No. 9 on the all-time Cheesemakers rebounding list. Taylor Jacobson had 13 points for Monroe, and Ambrose finished with 8.
“Megan had a great game, and not just statistically, but by being able to lead individuals and get people into the right spot where they needed to be on the court,” Kenny said. “We’re going to continue to lean on her.”
Benson led New Glarus with 20 points and Schadewalt added 16.
Monroe was scheduled to host Platteville Jan. 5 and then Portage Jan. 8. As of right now, the Cheesemakers are not allowing any spectators at home contests, but games can be viewed on the district’s YouTube page.
New Glarus was scheduled to play at Belmont Jan. 4, and then host Monticello Jan. 7 and Waterloo Jan. 8.
