Monticello now has a chance to make a little history.
“We’ve got a great opportunity to improve our regional seed, put a banner up on the wall in the gym and to validate all the hard work these kids have done,” said Monticello coach Mike Mountjoy.
With a 50-26 victory over Goochland in the Jefferson District semifinals Wednesday night, Monticello locked up the school’s first trip to the Jefferson District girls finals. The Mustangs took care of business against a Bulldogs squad that’s been pulled back and forth a little this week, first closing out their season Friday with a loss to Western Albemarle, then being told Western had forfeited because of a rule violation, then that it was being appealed, then that the appeal had been denied. That’s a lot for a team to handle and process over four days, but Goochland approached it enthusiastically.
“They were pumped and then I told them what was going on with the appeal and they were kind of like ‘ahh’ and they got down,” said Goochland coach Sarah Voyjack. “I was glad (they were excited) because I was worried they’d be down since we’d already kind of said our goodbyes to our seniors and all. It’s been a different experience.”
For about 14 minutes of the game, Goochland managed to keep it quite close, but then Bridgett Holleran got into a groove, attacking the basket to the tune of 10 points in the second quarter. The sophomore point guard got some help during that stretch from Hannah Shepherd, who tossed in six points during the run that put Monticello up 10 at the break.
“As a general rule, offensively particularly, we go as Bridgett goes,” Mountjoy said. “When she plays well, we’re pretty good offensively and when she struggles, we struggle.”
There was little struggle Wednesday night as Holleran tossed in 17 points. Shepherd finished with nine on the night and Taylor Paige chipped in eight.
Monticello’s defense was superb throughout with Goochland mustering just four points in the first quarter and a single free throw in the third as the Mustangs really started to pull away. That defensive effort translated nicely into offense as Monticello took the pace of the game up and wore down Goochland.
“We do look to push it in a primary break sort of manner — with an experienced team, a team that’s played together like this one, that’s an advantage we have,” Mountjoy said.
Monticello will go toe-to-toe with Charlottesville in the final Friday night at 6 p.m.
Tammara Taylor led Goochland with 11 points.
