MONTICELLO — The Ponies entered their nonconference game against Belmont already shorthanded, and losing another player to an injury in the first half only made matters worse.
“Belmont made shots when they had to,” coach Mark Gustafson said after Monticello’s 60-39 loss Jan. 13. “It was going to be a tough game. They are young, quick, tall — I felt like we didn’t give up, but sometimes you don’t make shots and the other team does.”
With senior guard Sarah Blumer unavailable, the Ponies struggled against Belmont’s full-court press. Then junior McKenna Pfeuti went down with an ankle injury, which forced even more adjustments in strategy for Gustafson.
“That was another person we were missing on the inside — she did a good job,” Gustafson said. “We were shorthanded and had some girls that have been on the team for 10 days step up and played some decent minutes.”
It was going to be a tough game. They are young, quick, tall — I felt like we didn’t give up, but sometimes you don’t make shots and the other team does.Monticello coach Mark Gustafson
Despite the struggles, the Ponies still were just a possession away from a tie game until the final minutes of the first half. That’s when the Braves went for the dagger from deep. Kylie Crapp hit three 3-pointers, while Ashley Knebel and Peyton Johnson also hit 3s for Belmont, who dominated the final seven minutes of the half and led 28-15 at the break.
Free throws had been the killer for Monticello as well. The Ponies were just 10 of 22 from the charity stripe in the first half.
“I think we kind of got in our heads with those. If we knock those down it could be a whole different game — different momentum and different baskets falling,” Monticello junior Mackie Ertthum said.
Belmont pulled away in the second half as Monticello struggled with foul trouble. Alexa Siegenthaler had eight points — including a pair of 3-pointers — for the Ponies, but fouled out with just under 10 minutes to play. Harley Disch and Ellie Gustafson each finished with four fouls as well.
Errthum, the team’s leading scorer, had 15 points in the game, including an 8 for 13 mark at the free throw line. Errthum was visibly exhausted in the closing minutes of the game.
Miah Brokopp scored six points for Monticello, and Disch added five. Monticello connected on three 3-pointers in the game and finished 20 of 40 from the line.
“We’ve done a better job” handling the ball, coach Gustafson said. “There were games early in the season where we turned it over 35 times. We’ve done a better job in the last few games of breaking presses, now we have to convert baskets out of it. I think we’re getting better; it’s just going to take some time. We’ve got a lot of games left and maybe we’ll sneak in a win here or there.”
Tori Nodolf and Kylie Crapp each had 10 points to lead Belmont. The Braves hit nine 3s and were 11 of 21 from the charity stripe.
“It’s definitely a team sport. Being down people definitely hurt, because we were relying on people that we normally don’t have to. But I think that, overall, they really proved themselves tonight coming off the bench. It’s going to look good in the future,” Errthum said.
