MONROE - Junior point guard Sydney Hilliard showed no ill-effects of a nagging ankle injury that forced her to miss the second half of a game earlier this week. She knew it was an opportunity for Monroe to seize control of the Badger South Conference girls basketball race.
"I tweaked it (ankle) a little bit on Tuesday," Hilliard said. "We decided to rest it and get ready for this game. I felt it a little. The adrenaline kicked in and that helped."
Hilliard played a starring role, scoring a game-high 29 points to lead Monroe to a 69-61 win over an upset-minded Madison Edgewood team Thursday night. Monroe (10-1, 6-0 Badger South), ranked No. 2 in the Division 2 WisSports.net Coaches Poll, is looking to win its second straight conference title. With the win, Monroe took a two-game lead over the Crusaders, who are the defending Division 3 state champions and feature three freshman in their starting lineup.
Hilliard understands the importance of beating Edgewood in an attempt to repeat as conference champions.
"We wanted to go out and win like we did last year in double-overtime on our court," Hilliard said of the win over Edgewood. "It's exciting to see how we finished."
The Cheesemakers led by as many as 15 points and hit nine 3-pointers in the game. Edgewood senior Caitlin Link, a Southern Illinois recruit, drilled a 3 to cut the Cheesemakers' lead to 54-52 with 8 minutes, 16 seconds left in the second half. Moments later, Edgewood freshman Ella Foti hit a 3 to slice Monroe's lead to 56-55. That's as close as the Crusaders would get. Hilliard answered by knocking down a 3-pointer with 6:09 to go to extend the Cheesemakers' lead to 59-55.
When the Cruaders again cut the Cheesemakers' lead to two points, Monroe sophomore Grace Tostrud hit a 3-pointer to give make it 62-57 with 5:04 left. Monroe made 5 of 6 free throws in the final 2:15, including Hilliard going 4 of 4 from the charity stripe to seal the win.
"I love when the game is competitive," Hilliard said. "They (Edgewood) fought really hard and came back. We are just in it to win it."
Monroe junior Emily Benzschawel knocked down three 3-pointers and added 13 points, while senior Sydney Mathiason had 12. Tostrud hit two 3s and finished with 8 points.
"Everyone who was coming knew the players they had would compete," Monroe coach Sam Mathiason said of Edgewood. "You knew Edgewood would keep competing and battling back. I'm just proud of the girls because the girls didn't get rattled and they found a way to make plays. Whether it was Emily making shots, Grace Tostrud hitting 3s or Sydney Hilliard making shots - they answered. We got stops and rebounds when we needed them."
Early on, the game had the makings of one where it looked like the Cheesemakers would outrun the Crusaders. Monroe went on an 11-0 run in the first half sparked by a Hilliard 3-pointer. The surge included Tostrud scoring down low and a 3-pointer by Benzschawel to give the Cheesemakers a 26-14 lead.
Sophomore Grace Mathiason hit a jumper in the lane, Hilliard added a layup, and then Sydney Mathiason cruised in for another layup to give Monroe its largest lead of the half at 15 points, 38-23 with 30 seconds to go. The Crusaders trimmed the Cheesemakers lead to 11 points at the half, 38-27. Monroe limited Link to just 6 points in the first half on 1 of 9 shooting.
Foti added 16 points for the Crusaders. Edgewood freshman Baluck Deang added 10 points.
"We wanted to make her work really hard," Mathiason said of Link, who finished with a team-high 21 points. "We tried a couple of different girls on her."
Mathiason made sure his team was aware of the significance of the game in the hunt for a conference championship.
"We talked before about how this was a really big game," he said. "If Edgewood would have won they could have got a tie in the conference. We knew this one had the extra opportunity of giving us two games up on them. Every game in the conference is important. The great thing about this team is they will help each other out and they continue to grow and get better."
"I tweaked it (ankle) a little bit on Tuesday," Hilliard said. "We decided to rest it and get ready for this game. I felt it a little. The adrenaline kicked in and that helped."
Hilliard played a starring role, scoring a game-high 29 points to lead Monroe to a 69-61 win over an upset-minded Madison Edgewood team Thursday night. Monroe (10-1, 6-0 Badger South), ranked No. 2 in the Division 2 WisSports.net Coaches Poll, is looking to win its second straight conference title. With the win, Monroe took a two-game lead over the Crusaders, who are the defending Division 3 state champions and feature three freshman in their starting lineup.
Hilliard understands the importance of beating Edgewood in an attempt to repeat as conference champions.
"We wanted to go out and win like we did last year in double-overtime on our court," Hilliard said of the win over Edgewood. "It's exciting to see how we finished."
The Cheesemakers led by as many as 15 points and hit nine 3-pointers in the game. Edgewood senior Caitlin Link, a Southern Illinois recruit, drilled a 3 to cut the Cheesemakers' lead to 54-52 with 8 minutes, 16 seconds left in the second half. Moments later, Edgewood freshman Ella Foti hit a 3 to slice Monroe's lead to 56-55. That's as close as the Crusaders would get. Hilliard answered by knocking down a 3-pointer with 6:09 to go to extend the Cheesemakers' lead to 59-55.
When the Cruaders again cut the Cheesemakers' lead to two points, Monroe sophomore Grace Tostrud hit a 3-pointer to give make it 62-57 with 5:04 left. Monroe made 5 of 6 free throws in the final 2:15, including Hilliard going 4 of 4 from the charity stripe to seal the win.
"I love when the game is competitive," Hilliard said. "They (Edgewood) fought really hard and came back. We are just in it to win it."
Monroe junior Emily Benzschawel knocked down three 3-pointers and added 13 points, while senior Sydney Mathiason had 12. Tostrud hit two 3s and finished with 8 points.
"Everyone who was coming knew the players they had would compete," Monroe coach Sam Mathiason said of Edgewood. "You knew Edgewood would keep competing and battling back. I'm just proud of the girls because the girls didn't get rattled and they found a way to make plays. Whether it was Emily making shots, Grace Tostrud hitting 3s or Sydney Hilliard making shots - they answered. We got stops and rebounds when we needed them."
Early on, the game had the makings of one where it looked like the Cheesemakers would outrun the Crusaders. Monroe went on an 11-0 run in the first half sparked by a Hilliard 3-pointer. The surge included Tostrud scoring down low and a 3-pointer by Benzschawel to give the Cheesemakers a 26-14 lead.
Sophomore Grace Mathiason hit a jumper in the lane, Hilliard added a layup, and then Sydney Mathiason cruised in for another layup to give Monroe its largest lead of the half at 15 points, 38-23 with 30 seconds to go. The Crusaders trimmed the Cheesemakers lead to 11 points at the half, 38-27. Monroe limited Link to just 6 points in the first half on 1 of 9 shooting.
Foti added 16 points for the Crusaders. Edgewood freshman Baluck Deang added 10 points.
"We wanted to make her work really hard," Mathiason said of Link, who finished with a team-high 21 points. "We tried a couple of different girls on her."
Mathiason made sure his team was aware of the significance of the game in the hunt for a conference championship.
"We talked before about how this was a really big game," he said. "If Edgewood would have won they could have got a tie in the conference. We knew this one had the extra opportunity of giving us two games up on them. Every game in the conference is important. The great thing about this team is they will help each other out and they continue to grow and get better."
