By Logan Riddick / Scrimmageplaycva.com contributor
The top-seeded Monticello girls’ basketball team routed eight seed Kettle Run 74-33 in a Region II, Division 3 quarterfinal Tuesday night.
Kettle Run never held a lead, as the Mustangs opened with a 7-0 burst.
“I thought we did a good job tonight of pushing the tempo and getting up and down the court,” said Monticello coach Josh McElheny. “Like I’ve told them all year, if you play defense and sprint, you can make a couple of easy baskets. I think everybody did a nice job doing that.”
Monticello pushed ahead 16-4 behind a balanced attack, with all five starters scoring from the floor, before Cougars’ coach Sarah Ventresco called timeout with 3:24 left in the first. Neither team scored for the rest of the quarter, but Monticello rattled off the first 13 points of the second. The Mustangs led 41-10 going into halftime, with Kettle Run cracking double digits on Ellie Heflin’s free throws with no time on the clock. Junior guard Cierra Hall had a game-high 10 points in the half, including a pair of threes.
Sophomore starter and leading rebounder Molly Shephard credited the Mustangs’ hustle for limiting Kettle Run’s opportunities and allowing the winners of 16 straight to dictate the speed of play.
“We tried something different; we tried to play a 2-3 so that we wouldn’t give away our strategies to other teams,” Shephard said. “But [the plan] was mainly just to hustle and go after the ball.”
The second half held little drama as Monticello continued the up-tempo pace with several players off the bench. Junior forward Lyra Payne led the way with six third-quarter points, while freshman Kiana Scott and junior Leah Coleman each had four. Play halted momentarily when Shephard hit the floor hard, but she was able to return in the fourth quarter and score a bucket, tallying a game-high 11 points.
In addition to Shephard and Hall, senior forward Emily Larrabee also scored in double figures with 10 points, despite an apparent head cold and hacking cough.
“We had the size advantage over them, so mainly it was just looking for the open person and getting the ball inside,” said Shephard of the Mustangs’ offensive attack.
Melissa McCann led the Cougars with 9 points.
Monticello will next host fifth-seeded Heritage (Leesburg) in a Region II semifinal on Thursday night.
