MONTICELLO — The Ponies picked up a memorable win in the opening round of the WIAA Division 5 regional playoffs, knocking off Hustisford 70-38 on Feb. 21.

“It’s not a good feeling when you lose on your home floor, and in playoffs, you lose and you’re done,” said head coach Mark Gustafson. “We had gotten killed by Barneveld on Friday (Feb. 17), so it was really nice to erase that from our memory.”

Five Monticello players scored, all of which had more than eight points. In fact, four reached double digits. Ellie Gustafson led the way with 26 points and 16 rebounds. Dalana Trumpy added 15 points, Jaden Zuber 11 and Molly Olson had 10. Karlee Wilkins chipped in with eight points.

“It’s really good to go out with a win at home, but we still have more to do,” Ellie Gustafson said. 

The Ponies struggled scoring early on, dropping just one field goal through the first five minutes. 

“I definitely felt a bit nervous before the game, because it could end our season. But our team doesn’t really get nervous. We just go out and play hard,” Ellie Gustafson said.

While the offense was hit or miss, the defense was stout. Hustisford scored the opening basket of the game, then were held scoreless for more than eight minutes. In that time, the Falcons had 12 turnovers to just four field goal attempts, and Monticello ran out to a 19-3 lead. 

With five minutes left in the half, the Ponies led 26-3. However, it wasn’t the cleanest stretch Monticello had played all year, despite the big lead. Shot selection was arguably the main culprit. Monticello was 14 of 40 (35%) from the field and led 34-17 at the break. However, the Ponies opened the night 8-for-17 (47%) from the field, but finished the opening stanza just 6 of 23 (26%).

“We didn’t shoot great, but we got a lot of open shots. It seemed like we could get a shot anytime we wanted to,” said Mark Gustafson. “Our defense was good. Once we shut down that tall girl in the middle (Autumn Kuehl), they struggled.”

Kuehl finished with 15 to lead Hustisford, while teammate Tianda Hildebrandt hit four 3-pointers and had 14 total points. The rest of the team scored just seven points combined.

“We changed up our defense a few times and ran different things,” Ellie Gustafson said. “We were taking good shots, but a lot of them weren’t going in. We’ve had nights where they are not really falling or we’re not taking good ones. The coaches told us to keep working hard and trying to instill confidence.”

In the second half, the Ponies looked much more polished. Olson was the steady hand at the point, which allowed everyone else to get into position and make the extra pass.

“You can tell she plays a lot of basketball outside of the school year,” Mark Gustafson said. “We averaged 30 turnovers a game last year, and she’s cut that to less than half. When she has the ball in her hand, she usually makes good decisions. Once she gets that shot perfected, she’ll be a pretty darn good basketball player.”

Olson, just a freshman, flashed never-ending hustle — diving for loose balls left and right .

“It’s just a habit (to go after loose balls). I have three siblings and we are always just wrestling all over the place. I don’t mind getting in a fight here or there,” Olson said about scrapping to the floor for every loose ball. 

She also wowed the crowd and froze defenders by showing off her dribbling and passing skills, tossing several no-look passed.

“I’m not the tallest, so I’m not shooting over people. Instead of getting the shot, I think of getting the shot for others and getting them open,” she said.

“It’s so nice to actually have a really good ball handler this year. In years past, I’d either been the first or second ball handler, and I think it’s pretty obvious I shouldn’t be touching the ball right away,” Ellie Gustafson said. “She has a really great basketball IQ and always knows where to put the ball. As a player, that really helps you make smart passes and smart shots.”

Now the path forward in the playoffs gets really tough. Up next for Monticello is a road game at 3-seed Rio, which knocked off Juda 66-27. The winner will likely face 2-seed Barneveld, which finished second in the Six Rivers East Conference this season.

“(Rio) is kind of a similar team, just with a few more skilled players. They have one player who is really good (Emily Loging, 19.3 ppg), and we’re going to try to shut her down,” Mark Gustafson said.

The win over Hustisford was also the last game at home for seniors Ellie Gustafson, Delenn Gillaspie and Angela Cash. In fact, it was the last game in Monticello for the foreseeable future. 

“We talked about putting everything into it. This is the end of Monticello basketball — solo — for who knows how long. We wanted to go out playing hard and pay respect to the Alyssa Kubly’s of the world who played so for this program,” Mark Gustafson said. Next season the Ponies will co-op with Albany — currently the top-seeded team in the sectional. The move was approved in December by both school districts and the Six Rivers Conference.