Martha Apple scored 15 points and Samantha Brunelle registered a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds in her much-anticipated return to the floor.
In the process, William Monroe captured the Region 3B crown — the program’s first region title since 1987 — with a 42-32 win over Brentsville at Orange County High School on Friday night.
The Tigers led by six early before Bryonna Woofter buried a three, ending a drought of more than four minutes for Monroe. Woofter added nine points for the Dragons. She later added a jumper from the left elbow.
“I saw that they were leaving the lane open and we needed to put points on the board,” Woofter said. “So I decided to just take it to the basket and see what I could do.”
Brunelle, out with a foot injury sustained against Brooke Point on Dec. 28, garnered the loudest ovation of the night when she entered off the bench midway through the first quarter. She hit her first basket of 2019, a three from the right wing, to open the scoring in the second and give the Dragons their first lead of the night at 11-10.
That advantage was short-lived, however, as Caiyan Smith answered with a trey of her own for Brentsville with 4:20 to play before halftime, and the half remained neck-and-neck until Brunelle buried another 25 seconds before the horn to lift Monroe to a 18-15 lead at the half.
The Dragons’ defense forced turnovers on Brentsville’s first three possessions of the second half to open up a 10-point lead with 5:19 to play in the third, and Brunelle found Hailey Morris, who swished a three from the right corner at the horn for a 34-24 lead and a big momentum boost going into the fourth.
“That’s not a play we drew up — we’re a read and react offense,” Monroe head coach Jess Stafford said. “So they just read off of each other — for them to still have that chemistry even though Sam hasn’t played in a month and a half was huge.”
Brentsville managed to stay close thanks to Smith, who hit four straight free throws to close the gap to six with 4:17 to play, but Apple scored on a stickback and later got another layup on a no-look pass from Brunelle to keep the Tigers at arm’s length.
“We didn’t expect [Sam] to score a lot, but we definitely expected her to take attention,” Stafford said. “And when she takes attention, that leaves players like Martha or Hailey or Bry open and they’re going to knock down shots.”
Smith led Brentsville with 13 and Sophia Stoernell added seven for the Tigers, who will play on as well. Brentsville had punched its ticket to the state tournament with a win over John Marshall in the semifinals.
Monroe will play its state quarterfinal game against Park View at Orange County next Friday at 7 p.m.
