Bravettes 68, Baxter Bolts 44.
It sounds like a substantial margin of victory and it was.
But that final score in no way indicates the degree of difficulty now-21-1 Montezuma had in winning its first post-season game, at home, on Tuesday, Feb. 18.
“Well, we opened up tournament play with Elise Boulton and Alyssa Cline home sick,” said Bravettes Coach Janel Burgess.
Both are guards. Boulton is Montezuma’s second-leading scorer and its chief – but certainly not the only – three-point threat.
Then, there was this 13-10 Baxter team, with three senior starters, that came to play.
The Bolts trailed 30-23 at halftime, then scored the first two baskets of the third quarter to trail by three. They had a chance to tie it with a trey about 3:30 into the quarter.
That shot missed. Montezuma’s Shateah Wetering rebounded and passed ahead to Shelby Conger, who scored a layup.
Moments later, after a turnover, Conger scored on a reverse layup.
The Bravettes finally got out to full gallop. They outscored Baxter 38-17 the rest of the way.
record for most treys in a game.
Shateah Wetering played like the all-stater she is. Maddy McKeag shot out the lights, with eight three-pointers. And Conger had moments where she was just deadly to Baxter.
“I am extremely proud of our seniors,” Burgess said. “They all played collectively to find a way to succeed, even through some adversity.”
McKeag led with her 24 points. Wetering had 23 and Conger scored 12.
Wetering just missed a triple-double. In addition to 23 points, she swept the boards for 14 rebounds and dished nine assists.
Shateah was nine-for-12 shooting from two-point range. She also had four steals and blocked four shots.
Montezuma led 19-8 after one quarter as McKeag connected on her first three treys.
But Baxter had its best quarter in the second, outscoring the Bravettes 15-11 to get within seven points.
Baxter was led in this game by Caitlyn Bruntz with 13 points and MaKenzie Eslinger with 12.
McKeag was eight-for-14 from three point range, a cool .571 average.
She also ran down seven rebounds and had four deflections.
Conger was five-for-six from the field, grabbed four rebounds, had two assists, two steals and three deflections.
Montezuma had command of the boards by a 40-27 margin. The Bravettes shot .466 from the field, to Baxter’s .340.
“We learned a lot and had many girls playing different roles,” Burgess said.
“This game was GREAT for us in many ways,” the coach said. “Our defense was challenged a couple times and our offense continued to be crisp, even though we did have too many (15) turnovers.”
UP NEXT – The Bravettes advance to the regional semifinals, at home, Friday, Feb. 21, against 19-4 Collins-Maxwell. It tips at 7 p.m.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Baxter 8 15 9 12 – 44
Montezuma 19 11 15 23 – 68
MONTEZUMA (68) – Maddy McKeag 8-16, 0-0, 3, 24. Shanae Wetering 0-1, 0-0, 3, 0. Mia Boulton 1-8, 0-0, 0, 3. Shateah Wetering 10-17, 2-2, 0, 23. Carissa Van Zee 2-5, 0-2, 1, 4. Shelby Conger 5-6, 2-4, 1, 12. Dylan Holland 1-5, 0-0, 3, 2. TOTALS – 27-58, 4-8, 11, 68.
BAXTER (44)
TOTALS – 18-53, 4-8, 6, 44.
Line score legend: Field goals made-attempted, free throws made-attempted, personal fouls, total points.
Turnovers: Montezuma 15, Baxter 17.
Rebounds: Montezuma 40 (Shat. Wetering 14, McKeag 7, Holland 5, Conger 4, Shan. Wetering 2, M. Boulton 2, Van Zee 2, team 4); Baxter 27.
Three-point goals: Montezuma 10-28 (McKeag 8, M. Boulton 1, Shat. Wetering 1); Baxter 4-14.
Assists: Shat. Wetering 9, M. Boulton 3, Conger 2, McKeag 1, Shan. Wetering 1.
Steals: Shat. Wetering 4, Holland 2, Conger 2, Shan. Wetering 1, Van Zee 1.
Deflections: McKeag 4, Van Zee 3, Conger 3, Shat. Wetering 1.
Blocks: Shat. Wetering 4, McKeag 1.
