MONTICELLO - The Monticello girls basketball team clinched second-place in the Six Rivers East with a 41-36 win over Black Hawk Thursday night.
Monticello got off to a strong start, leading 10-2 after a quarter of play. But Black Hawk flipped the script in the second quarter, outscoring the Ponies 16-6 to take an 18-16 lead into halftime. Monticello pulled within a point entering the fourth, and pulled ahead with a 16-10 fourth quarter to get the victory.
"We came out strong. We've really been working on our first quarter start. Our defesne really held and we were getting shots to fall," said Monticello coach Lori Brokopp. "The second quarter was completely different. (Black Hawk's) Jen Wellnitz had eight in the second. They just kinda took it to us. We kinda regrouped at halftime. We started playing our game."
Wellnitz was Black Hawk's leading scorer with 22 points. The Warriors also got 10 points from Michelle Flanagan. Brokopp said that her team did a better job of containing Wellnitz in the second half.
"We came out in the second half much better defensively," she said. "You do your best on Jen. I thought we took care of the ball better. She wasn't able to get the steals she has in past. We kinda weathered the storm and were able to hold on at the end."
The Ponies were led in scoring by Courtney Leuzinger, who had 15 points. Leuzinger stepped up in the absence of starter Alyssah Kubly, who was out with an ankle injury.
"She came out kinda as our spark in the first, she had six points in the first," Brokopp said of Leuzinger. "All of her seven shots were outside shots, even with a hand in her face sometimes. She was really on tonight. She brought a whole new dimension to the offense."
Black Hawk (12-9, 7-4) concludes their regular season next Thursday with a game at Albany. Monticello (16-5, 9-2) will also wrap up their season next Thursday at Argyle. Brokopp said that although the game won't mean much on paper, her team is not going to take the Orioles lightly.
"The focus is still about one game at a time, that's the type of team we are," she said. "Argyle is definitely improving, it was a close game here the first time. I know the girls would love to end the season 10-2 and to have that second place in conference. Even though it doesn't necessarily matter for placement, the seeding meeting will be done, but it means something to the girls."
Brodhead 64, Beloit Turner 37
BELOIT - Coming off their first loss of the season, the Brodhead girls basketball team was able to overcome an emotional evening and knock off Beloit Turner, 64-37.
Brodhead led 19-11 after the first quarter, and expanded that lead to 41-17 at halftime.
"I thought we bounced back (from the loss) pretty well," said Brodhead coach Brad Pickett. "It was a little bit of a rough start tonight. One of their players, her mom was just diagnosed with a Stage 4 cancer. They did a Purple Night and had a presentation. There wasn't a dry eye in the house. To start like that, it's just one of those things that's just bigger than basketball. I thought we handled it as best we could. We got off to a little bit of a slow start, but what do you do. We did a better job in the second."
Carly Mohns led the Cardinals with 16 points. She was joined in double figures by Rachel Heller, who added 10.
"I thought we moved the ball tonight," Pickett said. "Carly did a nice job of attacking the basket. She was very aggressive, we've talked to her about that lately. She really stepped up tonight."
Brodhead (19-1) has two games left in the regular season. The Cardinals host Monroe on Saturday and take on Big Foot next Thursday. Pickett said his team needs to keep working on doing the little things.
Pecatonica 46, Juda 28
JUDA - The Pecatonica girls basketball team completed a season sweep of Juda, defeating the Panthers for the second time in nine days.
The Vikings won the first quarter 12-7, carrying a run into the second quarter. Pec won the second quarter as well, as the Panthers failed to scored until the end of the frame.
"They did good in transition and got some outside shots to fall," Juda coach Curt Brown said.
Leading the way for the Vikings were sophomore Emily Scoville and senior Michelle Francois, who scored 12 and 10 points respectively. Junior Alexandra Ihm also chipped in 8.
Brown said stopping a team that can spread out it scoring like that is hard to contain.
"It's very tough, especially their outside shooting," he said. "You're never quite sure who's going to score for them. (Francois) has had two good games against us. She shoots the ball really well."
The Panthers were led by senior Brittany Moe, who had 11 points.
"She did great," Brown said. "As a senior you can kind of plateu, but she's kept going."
Sophomore Molly Marass was second on the team in scoring, with six points, and Brown commended the underclassmen for her progress through this season.
"She is ... playing more as the season goes on," he said. "She's able to find open spots and get up shots. Her shooting stroke is starting come around."
Marass started out as a manager on the team, and Brown said that he is looking forward to seeing her develop even further in the next few years.
"She's learning, and the more minutes she gets the more experience she gets," he said.
Wis. Heights 39, New Glarus 38
MAZOMANIE - The New Glarus girls suffered a tough loss Thursday night, giving up a three-point play with half a second left to lose to Wisconsin Heights, 39-38.
New Glarus got off to a good start, leading 14-6 after a quarter of play. The Glarner Knights increased their lead to 24-15 at halftime. New Glarus led by as much as 15 at one point in the third, and led 32-23 going into the final period of play. Wisconsin Heights came charging back in the fourth, though, outscoring the Glarner Knights 16-6 in the final quarter. New Glarus led 38-36 in the waning moments of the fourth before Heights made a lay-up and a free throw with a half second remaining to win the game.
"They scored with .5 left. We couldn't do much after that," said New Glarus coach Megan Scheele. "This was a tough one. We came out strong and did some nice thing in the third. I don't know what went wrong, I'll have to watch the tape. Heights just played a strong fourth."
Courtney Feller was the leading scorer for New Glarus with 13 points. Karina Moen added eight for the Knights.
New Glarus fell to 11-8 overall and 7-3 in the Capitol South with the loss.
Barneveld 88, Albany 30
BARNEVELD - The Albany girls basketball team had a rough night against Six Rivers East-leading Barneveld, as the Comets fell to the Eagles, 88-30.
Barneveld led 36-4 after a quarter of play, and increased their lead to 60-12 at halftime. The Eagles won the third 21-10, before the Comets outscored them 8-7 in the fourth.
Albany (4-16, 1-10) is back in action on Monday against Parkview.
Monticello got off to a strong start, leading 10-2 after a quarter of play. But Black Hawk flipped the script in the second quarter, outscoring the Ponies 16-6 to take an 18-16 lead into halftime. Monticello pulled within a point entering the fourth, and pulled ahead with a 16-10 fourth quarter to get the victory.
"We came out strong. We've really been working on our first quarter start. Our defesne really held and we were getting shots to fall," said Monticello coach Lori Brokopp. "The second quarter was completely different. (Black Hawk's) Jen Wellnitz had eight in the second. They just kinda took it to us. We kinda regrouped at halftime. We started playing our game."
Wellnitz was Black Hawk's leading scorer with 22 points. The Warriors also got 10 points from Michelle Flanagan. Brokopp said that her team did a better job of containing Wellnitz in the second half.
"We came out in the second half much better defensively," she said. "You do your best on Jen. I thought we took care of the ball better. She wasn't able to get the steals she has in past. We kinda weathered the storm and were able to hold on at the end."
The Ponies were led in scoring by Courtney Leuzinger, who had 15 points. Leuzinger stepped up in the absence of starter Alyssah Kubly, who was out with an ankle injury.
"She came out kinda as our spark in the first, she had six points in the first," Brokopp said of Leuzinger. "All of her seven shots were outside shots, even with a hand in her face sometimes. She was really on tonight. She brought a whole new dimension to the offense."
Black Hawk (12-9, 7-4) concludes their regular season next Thursday with a game at Albany. Monticello (16-5, 9-2) will also wrap up their season next Thursday at Argyle. Brokopp said that although the game won't mean much on paper, her team is not going to take the Orioles lightly.
"The focus is still about one game at a time, that's the type of team we are," she said. "Argyle is definitely improving, it was a close game here the first time. I know the girls would love to end the season 10-2 and to have that second place in conference. Even though it doesn't necessarily matter for placement, the seeding meeting will be done, but it means something to the girls."
Brodhead 64, Beloit Turner 37
BELOIT - Coming off their first loss of the season, the Brodhead girls basketball team was able to overcome an emotional evening and knock off Beloit Turner, 64-37.
Brodhead led 19-11 after the first quarter, and expanded that lead to 41-17 at halftime.
"I thought we bounced back (from the loss) pretty well," said Brodhead coach Brad Pickett. "It was a little bit of a rough start tonight. One of their players, her mom was just diagnosed with a Stage 4 cancer. They did a Purple Night and had a presentation. There wasn't a dry eye in the house. To start like that, it's just one of those things that's just bigger than basketball. I thought we handled it as best we could. We got off to a little bit of a slow start, but what do you do. We did a better job in the second."
Carly Mohns led the Cardinals with 16 points. She was joined in double figures by Rachel Heller, who added 10.
"I thought we moved the ball tonight," Pickett said. "Carly did a nice job of attacking the basket. She was very aggressive, we've talked to her about that lately. She really stepped up tonight."
Brodhead (19-1) has two games left in the regular season. The Cardinals host Monroe on Saturday and take on Big Foot next Thursday. Pickett said his team needs to keep working on doing the little things.
Pecatonica 46, Juda 28
JUDA - The Pecatonica girls basketball team completed a season sweep of Juda, defeating the Panthers for the second time in nine days.
The Vikings won the first quarter 12-7, carrying a run into the second quarter. Pec won the second quarter as well, as the Panthers failed to scored until the end of the frame.
"They did good in transition and got some outside shots to fall," Juda coach Curt Brown said.
Leading the way for the Vikings were sophomore Emily Scoville and senior Michelle Francois, who scored 12 and 10 points respectively. Junior Alexandra Ihm also chipped in 8.
Brown said stopping a team that can spread out it scoring like that is hard to contain.
"It's very tough, especially their outside shooting," he said. "You're never quite sure who's going to score for them. (Francois) has had two good games against us. She shoots the ball really well."
The Panthers were led by senior Brittany Moe, who had 11 points.
"She did great," Brown said. "As a senior you can kind of plateu, but she's kept going."
Sophomore Molly Marass was second on the team in scoring, with six points, and Brown commended the underclassmen for her progress through this season.
"She is ... playing more as the season goes on," he said. "She's able to find open spots and get up shots. Her shooting stroke is starting come around."
Marass started out as a manager on the team, and Brown said that he is looking forward to seeing her develop even further in the next few years.
"She's learning, and the more minutes she gets the more experience she gets," he said.
Wis. Heights 39, New Glarus 38
MAZOMANIE - The New Glarus girls suffered a tough loss Thursday night, giving up a three-point play with half a second left to lose to Wisconsin Heights, 39-38.
New Glarus got off to a good start, leading 14-6 after a quarter of play. The Glarner Knights increased their lead to 24-15 at halftime. New Glarus led by as much as 15 at one point in the third, and led 32-23 going into the final period of play. Wisconsin Heights came charging back in the fourth, though, outscoring the Glarner Knights 16-6 in the final quarter. New Glarus led 38-36 in the waning moments of the fourth before Heights made a lay-up and a free throw with a half second remaining to win the game.
"They scored with .5 left. We couldn't do much after that," said New Glarus coach Megan Scheele. "This was a tough one. We came out strong and did some nice thing in the third. I don't know what went wrong, I'll have to watch the tape. Heights just played a strong fourth."
Courtney Feller was the leading scorer for New Glarus with 13 points. Karina Moen added eight for the Knights.
New Glarus fell to 11-8 overall and 7-3 in the Capitol South with the loss.
Barneveld 88, Albany 30
BARNEVELD - The Albany girls basketball team had a rough night against Six Rivers East-leading Barneveld, as the Comets fell to the Eagles, 88-30.
Barneveld led 36-4 after a quarter of play, and increased their lead to 60-12 at halftime. The Eagles won the third 21-10, before the Comets outscored them 8-7 in the fourth.
Albany (4-16, 1-10) is back in action on Monday against Parkview.
