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| Girls face Bracken County in semi's Wednesday |
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By Dan Manley
Advocate Sports Editor
The resiliency of youth.
The Montgomery County Lady Indians were flat as a flitter last Wednesday night at the MCHS Arena in a 46-32 40th District championship game loss to the Clark County Lady Cardinals.
But Monday night at the Mason County Fieldhouse was a different story as the Tribe rebounded for a 69-53 win over Bishop Brossart to earn a spot in the 10th Region semifinals Wednesday night against Bracken County.
“This is a young team that hasn’t experienced the post-season like this before,” said Coach Janie Robinson. “They’re learning and you hope we can keep advancing at the same time. We just want to keep getting better and see what happens.”
The victory Monday night put the Lady Indians just one win away from a possible rematch with Clark County in the 10th Region final at noon Saturday.
Montgomery County has won five regional titles in a row, but this is the first time they’ve had the kind of youth they have on this team.
Clark County has to work through Nicholas County and either Scott High or Mason County to earn a spot in the finals.
In the win over Bishop Brossart Monday night the Lady Indians fell behind 9-4 in the first four minutes, but rallied for a 15-11 lead after the opening period and then raced out to a 38-20 halftime lead.
Senior Tori Cincotta led the way early, scoring eight of her 12 points in the first period.
“It was great to see Tori come out like that and take the lead,” Robinson said. “She essentially said I’m a senior and I can make this happen and she did.”
In the second period, freshman Macie Spence took over, scoring 11 of her game-high 23 points in that period as Montgomery County took a comfortable lead.
Spence did it by making herself available around the basket as 6-3 senior Mary Jehlik roamed the perimeter and was able to pick apart the Brossart defense with crisp passes that led to baskets.
Macie Spence hit eight of 13 field goal attempts and seven of eight free throws to finish with 23 points and she also grabbed 11 rebounds.
And Cincotta was six of 11 from the field and had 12 points along with four rebounds, three assists and two steals.
Senior Mary Jehlik had 10 points, seven rebounds and five assists and her steady play seemed to keep the Lady Indians on pace.
“Just typical Mary Jehlik,” said Robinson. “She’s just very unselfish, sometimes to the extreme, but she gets everybody else involved and seems to find the right player at the right time.”
Montgomery County also got two big three-point shots from freshman Olivia Colliver in the first half when they broke the game open.
Bishop Brossart, led by senior guard Emily Sanker, a first team All-Regional selection by the region’s coaches, had 13 points to lead the Lady Stangs.
Most pleasing of all the stats to Robinson was rebounding where the Lady Indians dominated, 42-28, with Spence, Jehlik and Taul pulling down a total of 25 rebounds among them, just three less than the entire Bishop Brossart team.
The Lady Indians next opponent, Bracken County, beat Pendleton County Monday night, 63-40 behind the 18-point, five rebound effort of senior forward Hannah Haight.
Bracken County carried an 18-8 record into the matchup with the Lady Indians, who were 16-13 after the Monday night win.
Bracken County won the All “A” Classic in the 10th Region earlier this season.
MCHS (69) — Jenny Lausti 1-5 3-7 5, Olivia Colliver 2-10 0-0 6, Tori Cincotta 6-11 0-0 12, Mary Jehlik 4-6 2-2 10, Macie Spence 8-13 7-8 23, Ashley Quiroz 0-0 6-8 6, Destiney Taul 3-6 0-2 6, Caitlin Conyers 0-1 1-4 1, Keria Lockett 0-0 0-0 0, Salli Stevens 0-0 0-0 0, Casey Newsome 0-0 0-0 0, Susan Hodgson 0-0 0-0 0, Schyler Tipton 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-52 19-31 69.
Bishop Brossart (53) — Emily Sanker 6-13 1-4 13, Becca Kidney 5-11 0-0 12, Hannah Uthe 3-8 1-2 7, Jenna Bezold 4-13 1-3 11, Nicole Ridder 0-1 0-1 0, Rachel Hartig 0-2 0-0 0, Ana Dischar 1-1 3-4 5, Molly Williams 0-2 1-2 1, Emily Schubert 1-2 0-0 2, Maddi Kues 0-0 0-0 0, Mallory Rolf 0-0 0-0 0, Elizabeth Schmidt 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 21-55 7-16 53.
MCHS 15 23 15 16 — 69
Brossart 11 9 16 17 — 53
Three-point field goals — MCHS 2-10 (Colliver 2-6); Bishop Brossart 4-16 (Kidney 2-4, Bezold 2-6). Rebounds — MCHS 42 (Spence 11, Jehlik 7, Taul 7); Bishop Brossart 28 (Uthe 7, Ridder 5). Assists — MCHS 15 (Lausti 5, Jehlik 5, Cincotta 3); Bishop Brossart 4. Turnovers — MCHS 20, Bishop Brossart 16. Total fouls — MCHS 15, Bishop Brossart 23. Fouled out — Sanker, Schubert. Technical fouls — None.
Clark County 46, MCHS 32
The Lady Indians’ offense simply shut down in the final quarter against Clark County in the title game of the 40th District last Wednesday night at the MCHS Arena.
Macie Spence scored seven points in the opening period as Montgomery County led 13-11 but Clark County allowed her just two points the rest of the way as they clamped down on the Lady Indians’ attack.
Mary Jehlik added nine points for Montgomery County as nobody scored in double figures.
Montgomery County never led in the game after the Lady Cards took a 15-13 lead.
Clark got a dozen points on the low post from sophomore Brittani Gay, nine from Brittany Black and eight from Taylor Kindred which was plenty enough to get them over the hump and back in the district winner’s circle for the first time in several years.
Montgomery County hit two three-point shots in the game, one each Mary Jehlik and Macie Spence.
The victory improved Clark County’s record to 15-10 going into regional play.
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