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When it comes to peculiarities, you could take your pick — Western Albemarle finding itself down by five in the last minute of the game after being up by 10 to start the fourth, or Monticello suddenly finding itself in overtime thanks to a last moment 3-pointer from the Warriors’ Natalie Marbury after leading by five with less than a minute left in the same quarter. Either way you chop it up, the meeting between these two was about a game of runs in those first four quarters. And in the additional overtime frame, the Mustangs came up with just one more bucket and a few big defensive stops in the final seconds of the contest to pick up a 61-59 win.
“We’ve learned this year that you just have to fight through the lulls and eventually the tide can turn and come back to you,” said Monticello coach Erica Terrell. “After the 3-pointer all the time on the bench was about how that was over. I asked each of (the players) if they were over it and told them that there were four more minutes left in the game. We had not lost. We had four more minutes. It was a matter of getting in the right mindset.”
As far as lead changes go, this one had it all. Western went from being up 4-0 in the first to suddenly down 13-6. The Warriors fought back and traded leads throughout the second quarter, but went into the third trailing by two. And with Monticello’s post presence in Mariah Brown and senior leader Kiana Scott both in substantial foul trouble, it seemed as though Western was in pretty good position.
That position only got better when Brown and Scott picked up their four fouls in the third quarter and the Warriors, with Elen Hayden, Marbury both going off for eight points each, suddenly were up 43-33 after outscoring the Mustangs 18-6 in an 8-minute span.
“You’re up 10, you’ve only given up 33 points and then you give up 31 points in the next 12 minutes between the fourth and in OT – you’re not going to win games doing that, not getting stops down the stretch,” said Western coach Kris Wright. “We have to grow up a bit and learn how to play better late in games, we’ve let two or three slip away from us.”
The fourth, up until the last minute, belonged to Monticello as they took a big swing back with Scott getting hot from outside to fuel a 13-0 run to tie the game. The senior knocked down a trio of 3-pointers and saw Rachel Mathews and Hannah Shifflett also get rolling offensively after that to where Monticello was soon up by five with a minute to go.
“When I was taken out in the third (because of foul trouble) I tried to get myself right mentally to come back out in the fourth,” Scott said. “But it wasn’t just about me, all of us got back and did the mental evaluation, got back to all the things we talk about in practice. We got the fire back in us.”
Thanks to Hayden underneath, the Warriors cut the lead to three points and with Monticello unable to put the game away because of forced turnovers and missed free throws, Marbury got a chance to tie the game up with just a few ticks on the clock. She knocked down the shot and after a last ditch 3-quarter court heave from the Mustangs, the Warriors forced overtime.
“Natalie, she just hit a huge three at the top of the key — which obviously with the boys crowd in the gym screaming — there’s even more pressure on that shot,” Wright said. “But it was catch and shoot, and obviously an exciting moment. She made a game winner against Liberty Christian last year so she’s made that shot before. That shot was drawn up for her and we wanted to run misdirection, send it back over to her and let it fly and see what happened.”
She had one more big shot in her too. Marbury hit a three out of the gate in overtime to put her team up, but that would be the lone field goal for the Warriors from there. Monticello answered immediately with a layup from Scott and then Shifflett put her team up 61-59 inside of a minute to go. Western got its fair share of looks at the basket but was unable to convert with Kirstena Lilley coming up with a block and Scott a rebound after another shot with just a few seconds left to wrap up the win for Monticello.
“One thing I’m proud of with this team is that we keep fighting,” Scott said. “That’s how you win games.”
The Mustangs had three finish in double figures with Scott scoring 17 and hitting four 3-pointers. Shifflett was on Scott’s heals with 16 points. Brown, who had a huge game on the glass and inside particularly in the first half, finished with 14.
Western was led by Hayden’s 19 points and Mabury’s 18. Julia Haws and Mady Starsia each finished with six points.
The Warriors travel to Louisa County while Monticello heads to Orange County, both games on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.
