By most accounts and measures, losing a basketball game by 25 points is better than losing by 41.
By that reckoning, the Bravettes played better in a 67-42 loss on Monday, Feb. 5, than they did in a 73-32 defeat at the hands of Class 2A #5 Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont on Friday, Feb. 2.
Williamsburg is another class up, too – in Class 3A – and through last week, the Raiders were ranked 15th.
Monday’s loss wasn’t a total blowout, but neither was it a close game after the Raiders led 23-10 after one quarter.
It was 39-20 at halftime and 59-31 through three periods. Montezuma outscored its guests 11-8 in the fourth quarter.
The biggest problem appeared to be getting shots against the Williamsburg defense.
Ellen Cook and Shiressa Wetering scored well – 18 points for each. They shot a combined 13-for-25 from the field.
But the Raiders locked down on everyone else. The rest of the Bravettes were 2-for-15 from the field.
Williamsburg put up 15 more field goal attempts and shot .491 from the field, compared to the Bravettes’ .375.
The Bravettes were just one-for-eight from behind the arc, which is well below their average in each category.
Another telling factor was rebounding, where Williamsburg led by a 37 to 22 margin.
“Our last two games were tremendous challenges for us,” said Bravettes Coach Janel Burgess. “We played extremelly hard against Williamsburg and we grew in areas we needed to show growth in.”
“Against a very physical, tall and strong team, we were able to finish in the paint, which was is great,” Burgess said. “We were able to get the ball into the low post with pressure on us from the wing. These are two great areas of growth.”
“We played some solid half court defense, but we did not rebound well, so we will focus on that as we press on to the post-season,” the coach said.
“Overall, these two games (EBF and Williamsburg) are on the schedule to challenge us to the ultimate level and give us ways for ourselves to improve heading into post-sesason. We will practice hard the days heading into the WACO/Hillcrest Academy game and take one game at a time,” Burgess said.
Williamsburg went to 13-7 with the win, while Montezuma closed the regular season at 17-4.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Williamsburg 23 16 20 8 – 67
Montezuma 10 10 11 11 – 42
MONTEZUMA – (42) – Ellen Cook 7-16, 4-7, 0, 18. Claire Erselius 0-3, 1-2, 3, 1. Izzy Roorda 0-1, 0-0, 1, 0. Jadyn Sharer 1-7, 0-0, 1, 0. Shiressa Wetering 6-9, 6-8, 1, 18. Vivian Cook 1-3, 0-0, 1, 2. Sydnee Burgess 0-1, 0-0, 1, 0. Jordan Ranfeld 0-0, 0-0, 0, 0. TOTALS – 15-40, 11-17, 7, 42.
WILLIAMSBURG (67) – TOTALS – 27-55, 5-5, 15, 67.
Line score legend: field goals made-attempted, free throws made-attempted, personal fouls, total points.
Turnovers: Montezuma 18, Williamsburg 14.
Three-pointers: Montezuma 1-8 (Sharer 1-2, E. Cook 0-3, V. Cook 0-1, Erselius 0-2); Williamsburg 8-24.
Rebounds: Montezuma 22 (Wetering 4, E. Cook 3, Burgess 3, Roordq 4, team 3); Williamsburg 37.
Assists: Montezuma 9 (E. Cook 5, Burgess 2, Roorda 1, Wetering 1).
Steals: Montezuma 5 (Burgess 2, E. Cook 1, V. Cook 1, team 1).
Deflections: Montezuma 5 (E. Cook 2, V. Cook 1, Burgess 1, Roorda 1).
Blocks: Montezuma 2 (Burgess 2).