With Louisa County’s size providing a significant advantage, it was tough slugging for Monticello in the first half. But when a few of Mike Mountjoy’s role players stepped up and hit timely shots, the tide swung dramatically for the Mustangs. Behind good runs in the early third quarter and middle fourth, Monticello advanced to the Jefferson District semifinals, which will be played on its own home court, after the 62-44 quarterfinal win.
“The kids played a great second half,” Mountjoy said. “What we like though was that we got contributions from everyone. We got it from starters, bench players, upper classmen and freshman. We’ve got a group of relatively young players learning to trust each other and that makes this journey pretty special. We’re delighted to be coming back to play in our gym next week.”
After closing the second quarter strong and building up a 4-point lead, the Mustangs went to work on extending the deficit to double digits. Jessie Valentic and Hannah Shepherd pushed the lead up to eight points, and a few minutes later, freshman Kristin Histand knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers to make it 36-22.
“I just thought that taking (those two 3-pointers) would be the best thing to do because I knew I could make them,” Histand said. “We started rebounding there, boxing out and then we were able to hit some big shots.”
Louisa fought back though to make it a 6-point game early in the fourth quarter, but behind Bridgett Holleran and Taylor Paige, the Mustangs pulled away for good on an 11-0 run that featured more free throws than field goals.
“They exploited our weakness on defense,” said Louisa coach Myra Braxton. “Our guards never really got into it they way we had hoped. So the first half we played well, but missed assignments, missed passes and a few offensive miscues, that really hurt us in the end.
Holleran wound up leading the way with 16 points in the win, and was 10 for 11 at the foul line. Taylor had a similarly sound game, hitting nine of her 10 free throws to finish with 15 on the night. The two spent the majority of the fourth quarter at the line as the Lions tried to foul their way back into the game.
“They were in a fouling situation there at the end,” Paige said. “I made a couple of them early in the game so I was pretty confident. I had been a little streaky before this game.”
For Louisa, Khedijah Winkey and Kim Washington each finished in double figures. Winkey led her team with 12 points while Washington had 10. Brianna Whalen was close behind with nine points.
The Lions (5-14) still have an outside shot at a Region II Division 4 playoff spot.
The Mustangs (12-10) host Goochland on Wednesday in the JD quarters after Western’s forfeiture of its quarterfinals win.
