MONTICELLO - Monticello junior point guard Becky Nelson summed up what hurt the Ponies in a 51-28 loss to Barneveld in one word - turnovers.
Monticello (5-14, 2-8 Six Rivers East) had almost as many turnovers (23) as they did points (28).
"Turnovers is what really killed us in this one," said Nelson, who scored a team-high 12 points and had seven rebounds. "We really need to get rid of the turnovers. If we got rid of the turnovers, we could come out on top."
The Ponies opened the game with three straight turnovers and had seven turnovers on their first eight possessions. The Golden Eagles jumped out to a 7-0 first quarter lead and the Ponies went 5 1/2 minutes without a field goal. Nelson snapped the scoring drought when she scored on a layup with 2:30 left in the first quarter. Fellow junior Desiree Marty, who scored six points, came up with a steal and scored on a layup to slice the Eagles' lead to 7-6. However, that is as close as the Ponies would get.
The Ponies trailed just 13-8 at the end of the period.
"I said from day 1 if we can eliminate the turnovers, we can play with a lot of teams in our league," Monticello coach Tom Eveland said. "We just struggled making passes. We made dumb decisions."
The Eagles took a 19-10 lead midway through the second quarter on freshman McKenzie Sprole's layup. The Ponies responded when senior Taylor Pfeuti scored down low to cut the Eagles' lead to 19-14 with 2:37 to go in the second quarter. The Eagles answered, closing the period on a 6-1 spurt to take a 24-15 half-time lead.
For the Ponies, the second half started a lot like the first. They turned the ball over on four of their first five possessions of the third quarter. The Eagles used a 10-2 third quarter run to take a commanding lead. The spurt was highlighted by 3-pointers from Madison Laube and Alexis Brown that gave the Eagles a 31-17 lead.
"I think sometimes we just get excited and we start running too much," Nelson said. "We just need to calm down and run the plays."
Nelson said the difference in the second half was the turnovers the Ponies committed.
"We started to panic," she said.
Laube scored 16 points to lead the Eagles and Shelby Meyer added 15.
The Eagles limited Monticello senior Taylor Klitzke to just two points. She entered the game as the Ponies' leading scorer.
"Taylor Klitzke had an off night," Eveland said. "She wasn't shooting well and got frustrated."
Monticello is in one of the toughest stretches with three straight games against Juda, Barneveld and Black Hawk. The Ponies close out the three game stretch by hosting Black Hawk Friday.
"We are playing one of the hardest stretches in the league," Eveland said. "We just can't hang our heads. We have to focus on doing things right and we will end up where we want to be.
"Right now Black Hawk is playing awesome basketball," Eveland said. "Their press is just amazing. We have to work on our passing on offense if we want to stay with Black Hawk."
Monticello (5-14, 2-8 Six Rivers East) had almost as many turnovers (23) as they did points (28).
"Turnovers is what really killed us in this one," said Nelson, who scored a team-high 12 points and had seven rebounds. "We really need to get rid of the turnovers. If we got rid of the turnovers, we could come out on top."
The Ponies opened the game with three straight turnovers and had seven turnovers on their first eight possessions. The Golden Eagles jumped out to a 7-0 first quarter lead and the Ponies went 5 1/2 minutes without a field goal. Nelson snapped the scoring drought when she scored on a layup with 2:30 left in the first quarter. Fellow junior Desiree Marty, who scored six points, came up with a steal and scored on a layup to slice the Eagles' lead to 7-6. However, that is as close as the Ponies would get.
The Ponies trailed just 13-8 at the end of the period.
"I said from day 1 if we can eliminate the turnovers, we can play with a lot of teams in our league," Monticello coach Tom Eveland said. "We just struggled making passes. We made dumb decisions."
The Eagles took a 19-10 lead midway through the second quarter on freshman McKenzie Sprole's layup. The Ponies responded when senior Taylor Pfeuti scored down low to cut the Eagles' lead to 19-14 with 2:37 to go in the second quarter. The Eagles answered, closing the period on a 6-1 spurt to take a 24-15 half-time lead.
For the Ponies, the second half started a lot like the first. They turned the ball over on four of their first five possessions of the third quarter. The Eagles used a 10-2 third quarter run to take a commanding lead. The spurt was highlighted by 3-pointers from Madison Laube and Alexis Brown that gave the Eagles a 31-17 lead.
"I think sometimes we just get excited and we start running too much," Nelson said. "We just need to calm down and run the plays."
Nelson said the difference in the second half was the turnovers the Ponies committed.
"We started to panic," she said.
Laube scored 16 points to lead the Eagles and Shelby Meyer added 15.
The Eagles limited Monticello senior Taylor Klitzke to just two points. She entered the game as the Ponies' leading scorer.
"Taylor Klitzke had an off night," Eveland said. "She wasn't shooting well and got frustrated."
Monticello is in one of the toughest stretches with three straight games against Juda, Barneveld and Black Hawk. The Ponies close out the three game stretch by hosting Black Hawk Friday.
"We are playing one of the hardest stretches in the league," Eveland said. "We just can't hang our heads. We have to focus on doing things right and we will end up where we want to be.
"Right now Black Hawk is playing awesome basketball," Eveland said. "Their press is just amazing. We have to work on our passing on offense if we want to stay with Black Hawk."
