MONTEZUMA – The Montezuma Bravettes’ defense picked up their regional semifinal opponent at the front door and just didn’t quit.
Montezuma’s pressure didn’t allow Melcher-Dallas to breathe in a 66-26 win at home on Friday, Feb. 21, that left the Bravettes one win from an appearance in the state finals.
Montezuma led 38-10 at halftime and created a continuous clock later in the third quarter.
Next date: The Class 1A regional championship game on Wednesday, Feb. 26, at Indianola High School. They’ll meet Lenox, which upset a 21-1 Mt. Ayr team.
Montezuma went inside to post player Shiressa Wetering for 10 first quarter points as the Bravettes led 20-5 after one period.
Montezuma’s three-point shooters got active after that.
Ellen Cook finished with 20 points to lead the Bravettes. She also had the defensive assignment on Addison Wadle, a 5-1 guard who came in leading scorer for her team at 21.1 points a game. She scored just 2 points in the first half and finished with 5.
Ellen Cook was busy on offense. In addition to her scoring, she had 6 rebounds, 5 assists, and 4 steals.
Wetering finished with 16 for Montezuma, and added 2 blocks and a steal.
Claire Erselius had 11 points and Syd Burgess scored 9. She added 6 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 blocked shot.
Both teams entered this game with 17-5 records.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Melcher-Dallas 5 5 7 9 – 26
Montezuma 20 18 17 11 – 66
MONTEZUMA (66): Ellen Cook 8-15, 0-1, 2, 20; Vivian Cook 1-9, 0-0, 1, 2; Syd Burgess 3-5, 3-4, 2, 9; Claire Erselius 4-8, 0-0, 2, 11; Shiressa Wetering 7-13, 2-2, 2, 16; Lindsey Henry 0-1, 1-2, 0, 1; Lauryn Larmore 1-2, 0-0, 2, 3; Ryanne Williams 0-0, 0-0, 0, 0; Sophia Sempini 1-3, 0-0, 0, 2; Alexa Rose 1-3, 0-0, 0, 2; Khloe Krouse 0-0, 0-0, 0, 0. TOTALS – 26-59, 6-9, 11, 66.
LINE SCORE LEGEND: field goals made-attempted, free throws mad-attempted, personal fouls, total points.
Three pointers: 8-24 (E. Cook 4-8, Erselius 3-5, Larmore 1-2, V. Cook 0-8, Rose 0-1).
Turnovers: 4.
Rebounds: 30 (E. Cook 6, Erselius 7, Burgess 6, V. Cook 5, Semprini 2, Henry 1, Rose 1, Williams 1).
Assists: 17 (Burgess 5, E. Cook 5, V. Cook 3, Erselius 2, Larmore 2).
Steals: 11 (E. Cook 4, V. Cook 3, Burgess 1, Erselius 1, Wetering 1, Rose 1).
Blocks: 9 (Burgess 3, Erselius 3, Wetering 2, E. Cook 1).