SIGOURNEY – Game-long tenacity on defense, and a consistent effort on offense put the Montezuma Bravettes in position to make a fourth quarter surge on their way to a 64-46 win over Sigourney on Friday night, Dec. 20.
Montezuma had a 19-5 scoring advantage in the fourth quarter, to make the final score not representative how close this game was.
The Bravettes had quarter leads of 16-13, 29-25 and 45-41.
But fouls on both sides were piling up and wound up hurting Sigourney’s lineup more.
The Bravettes threw up a defense the Savages had trouble penetrating. Meanwhile, Montezuma got many open looks, which they didn’t always hit – but they put themselves on the free throw line, where they made 22 of 30.
The Bravettes had four double figures scorers: Ellen Cook with 19, Vivian Cook with 16, Shiressa Wetering with 10 and Claire Erselius with 10.
Montezuma had to manage foul trouble, too. The Bravettes’ two tall players, Wetering and Syd Burgess, each had three personals in the first half, but neither fouled out.
But senior guard Ellen Cook stepped up her defense in the second half, with a number of deflections and steals – and subsequent free throws.
Syd Burgess led Montezuma rebounders with 10. She also blocked 3 shots. Claire Erselius had 7 rebounds.
This was the only regular season matchup featuring these two teams.
The win put Montezuma at 5-3 going into the holiday break.
Sigourney was left at 5-2 on the season.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Montezuma 16 13 16 19 – 64
Sigourney 13 12 16 5 – 46
MONTEZUMA (64) – Ellen Cook 5-13, 6-6, 0, 19; Vivian Cook 4-14, 4-12, 3, 16; Syd Burgess 2-3, 2-7, 4, 6; Claire Erselius 3-11, 3-4, 2, 10; Shiressa Wetering 3-5, 4-5, 3, 10; Lindsey Henry 0-0, 0-0, 1, 0; Lauryn Larmore 0-4, 3-4, 3, 3. TOTALS – 17-50, 22-20, 16, 64.
LINE SCORE LEGEND – field goals made-attempted, free throw made-attempted, personal fouls, total points.
Turnovers – 15.
Three-pointers – 8-33 (V. Cook 4-10, E. Cook 3-10, Erselius 1-8, Larmore 0-3).
Rebounds – 34. (Burgess 10, Erselius 7, V. Cook 5, E. Cook 4, Wetering 3, Larmore 4, Henry 1).
Assists – 11 (E. Cook 6, V. Cook 2, Erselius 2, Burgess 1).
Steals – 13 (V. Cook 5, E. Cook 3, Erselius 3, Burgess 2.
Blocks – 3 (Burgess 3).