Little by little, the Montezuma Bravettes pulled away from Lynnville-Sully’s girls, 61-39, on Tuesday, Feb. 2.
The win clinched the South Iowa Cedar League championship for the Bravettes. Actually, it’s a “three-peat,” a third straight conference crown for Montezuma.
Defenses dominated for both teams. The Bravettes didn’t allow the Hawks to take the ball into the paint very often. And the Hawks kept some pressure on Montezuma, especially in the first half.
Montezuma led 25-15 at halftime, but the game had the feel of a tournament game – like anything might happen in the second half.
Actually, history repeated, not once, but twice.
The Bravettes went on a quick 5-0 run to start the second quarter, to give them some separation at 16-4.
Montezuma opened the second half with a 9-0 run, taking the score to 34-15.
If there was any doubt left, the Bravettes scored the first five points of the fourth quarter to push their lead out to 49-26.
The Bravettes had some adversity – foul trouble – to manage and they did it. Four starters, Shanae Wetering, Kierstyn Price and Dylan Holland, all front court players, had four personal fouls each. But none fouled out. They got some quality minutes off the bench from forward Korrinn Kehoe, who had five rebounds to go with a basket.
“We had to play a very GRITTY game to find success, and we did!” said Montezuma Coach Janel Burgess.
Senior guard Elise Boulton was a difference maker with her ability to drive and shoot off the run. She scored 19 points, with a dozen of them coming in the second half.
Guard Mia Bouton scored 11, including a trio three-pointers.
Post Dylan Holland scored 15.
“Our leadership is so unique and special right now,” Burgess said. “Even though we had foul trouble, all of our girls played their roles very well.”
Three-pointers were huge for the Bravettes. Six different players dropped in a total of 10 of them, which served to spread the Lynnville-Sully defense.
The Bravettes had a 38-18 lead in rebounding. They also were able to put up 19 more shot attempts. Caitlin Alberts led Lynnville-Sully scoring with 11 points. Krystal Van Dyke, who didn’t miss a field goal attempt, but got just four shots, had eight.
The victory, Montezuma’s 18th straight, pushed the Bravettes to 18-1 overall and to 15-0 in SICL play.
Lynnville-Sully, much improved from the first time these two met in December, went to 15-3 overall and to 11-3 against the league.
“We are eager to finish up the regular season with HLV and Grundy Center,” Burgess said.
UP NEXT – Montezuma’s final SICL game is at home against HLV on Saturday night.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Lynnville-Sully 4 11 11 13 – 39
Montezuma 11 14 19 17 – 61
MONTEZUMA (61)
Shanae Wetering 0-5, 2-4, 4, 2. Kierstyn Price 2-3, 0-0, 4, 6. Mia Boulton 4-8, 0-0, 1, 11. Elise Boulton 9-20, 0-0, 1, 19. Dylan Holland 5-6, 3-6, 4, 15. Madison Johannes 1-3, 0-0, 1, 3. Jadyn Sharer 1-3, 0-0, 2, 3. Korrinn Kehoe 1-2, 0-0, 0, 2. TOTALS – 23-50, 5-10, 17, 61.
LYNNVILLE-SULLY (39)
TOTALS – 13-31, 9-17, 13, 39.
Line score legend: Field goals made-attempted, free throws made-attempted, personal fouls, total points.
Turnovers: L-S 20, Montezuma 15.
Three-point goals: L-S 4-8, Montezuma 10-25 (M. Boulton 3-7, Holland 2-2, Johannes 1-2, Sharer 1-2, Price 2-2, E. Boulton 1-7, Wetering 0-3.
Rebounds: L-S 18, Montezuma 38 (Holland 12, E. Boulton 6, Johannes 6, Kehoe 5, M. Boulton 3, Wetering 3, Sharer 2, Price 1.
Assists: L-S 9, Montezuma 10 (E. Boulton 6, Wetering 1, Price 1. M. Boulton 1, Johannes 1).
Steals: L-S 9, Montezuma 11 (M. Boulton 3, E. Boulton 3, Johannes 2, Sharer 2, Wetering 1).
Blocks: L-S none, Montezuma 1 (Holland 1).
