MONTICELLO - Two weeks ago, Monticello girls basketball coach Paul Wedig thought his team had turned a corner. After a 38-31 loss Monday to Shullsburg (4-8, 1-6 Six Rivers West), it appears the Ponies have taken a wrong turn.
"We have some issues coming to play in the last couple weeks, and I don't know what we're going to do to fix it. But we're going to have to do something," Wedig said.
After consecutive wins over Argyle and Madison Abundant Life earlier in the month, the Ponies have come out flat since.
Monticello (4-8, 2-3 Six Rivers East) started the game looking like the better team on Senior Night, taking an 8-2 lead on the Miners.
Shullsburg cut the lead to 8-6 by the end of the first quarter and soon brought the game to a tie.
A late steal and basket by Rachel Nelson with two seconds left gave Monticello a 14-11 lead at halftime.
Despite the play, Wedig was displeased with his team's defense the entire night.
"I think our defense was terrible tonight. I'm a big fan of little things, and I don't think we are doing the little things well at all right now," Wedig said.
Shullsburg started the second half rolling, going on an 8-1 run over the first 3 minutes, 27 seconds.
Soon, Monticello found itself lost on defense at the same time its offense turned as cold as the weather. The Ponies trailed 25-21 at the end of the third, and things didn't go any better in the fourth.
Monticello fell behind by six points (29-23) in the low-scoring affair, but got a jumper by freshman Katie Gierhart and a free throw by senior Sarah Silver (nine points) to pull within three points at 29-26.
But the Miners pulled away, making free throws and breaking the press down the stretch.
"We weren't moving on offense, and that's something that we don't do," Wedig said.
Senior Nicole Smith scored nine points for Monticello. Nine different Ponies scored in the contest, but as a team hit just 11 shots in the game.
"I thought we hit that turning point about two games ago, but we didn't and we've digressed. I don't know what it is, but we've got to figure it out. We've got Albany and Juda coming up now. It's a full week of basketball and we have to get some things figured out, that's for sure," Wedig said.
The coaching staff has just two days to try and right the ship before hosting Albany (8-7, 4-3) on Thursday and Juda (7-5, 1-5) on Friday.
"We have some issues coming to play in the last couple weeks, and I don't know what we're going to do to fix it. But we're going to have to do something," Wedig said.
After consecutive wins over Argyle and Madison Abundant Life earlier in the month, the Ponies have come out flat since.
Monticello (4-8, 2-3 Six Rivers East) started the game looking like the better team on Senior Night, taking an 8-2 lead on the Miners.
Shullsburg cut the lead to 8-6 by the end of the first quarter and soon brought the game to a tie.
A late steal and basket by Rachel Nelson with two seconds left gave Monticello a 14-11 lead at halftime.
Despite the play, Wedig was displeased with his team's defense the entire night.
"I think our defense was terrible tonight. I'm a big fan of little things, and I don't think we are doing the little things well at all right now," Wedig said.
Shullsburg started the second half rolling, going on an 8-1 run over the first 3 minutes, 27 seconds.
Soon, Monticello found itself lost on defense at the same time its offense turned as cold as the weather. The Ponies trailed 25-21 at the end of the third, and things didn't go any better in the fourth.
Monticello fell behind by six points (29-23) in the low-scoring affair, but got a jumper by freshman Katie Gierhart and a free throw by senior Sarah Silver (nine points) to pull within three points at 29-26.
But the Miners pulled away, making free throws and breaking the press down the stretch.
"We weren't moving on offense, and that's something that we don't do," Wedig said.
Senior Nicole Smith scored nine points for Monticello. Nine different Ponies scored in the contest, but as a team hit just 11 shots in the game.
"I thought we hit that turning point about two games ago, but we didn't and we've digressed. I don't know what it is, but we've got to figure it out. We've got Albany and Juda coming up now. It's a full week of basketball and we have to get some things figured out, that's for sure," Wedig said.
The coaching staff has just two days to try and right the ship before hosting Albany (8-7, 4-3) on Thursday and Juda (7-5, 1-5) on Friday.
