Monterey girls hold on, Block boys win

Published 12:01 am Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Defense was on display at Block High School Tuesday night as the Monterey Lady Wolves took down the Block Lady Bears 30-28.

“We’ve played them twice and they had beaten us twice,” Monterey head coach Cary Shively said. “We had a game plan and executed it well. We went to a zone, and tried to keep them from penetrating into the middle and we rebounded the basketball.”

The game was low scoring heading into the half with Monterey leading 11-9.

Email newsletter signup

“I think we just didn’t come out of the gate right,” Block head coach Veronica Savage said. “We got a slow start and tried in the third and fourth quarter to make up for lacking in the first and second.”

Savage was without two key players, who were out with ankle injuries.

“I’ve got two of my fastest players banged up,” she said. “That hurt us with the type of game that we run. Coach Shively is an awesome coach and I could see his work. His kids delivered and I can take nothing from them.”

Both teams scored in double-digits in the third quarter and Monterey took a 23-20 lead heading into the final quarter of play, and the Lady Wolves were able to hold on in the final period of play.

Shively said he wasn’t worried about the mindset of his kids coming up against a team they had already lost to twice this season.

“This bunch of kids shows up ready to play,” he said. “They know on any given night that anyone can win, and tonight, we showed up and executed our game plan.”

Savage and Block knew they were going to get Monterey’s best.

“We kind of went out like Monterey was going to lay down,” Savage said. “But knowing coach Shively, you will not lay down on him and come out victorious. I think it is a lesson to be learned.”

Carli Scott led Monterey with seven points and Bontresia Barber carried the load for Block with eight points.

Block 47, Monterey 41 (boys)

JONESVILLE — Coming off a fresh loss to Monterey this past weekend, Block head coach Benny Vault Jr. wanted to see his team come out with more intensity.

And they did Tuesday night, taking down Monterey 47-41.

“We came out flat this past weekend, and we stressed to the team that we need to come out with intensity,” Vault said. “They did tonight.”

The teams were in a tight battle early on, with Monterey leading 20-17 heading into halftime, but Block was able to post double-digit points in both the third and fourth quarters to pull away.

“Our defense created the offense,” Vault said. “We had a lot of layups and second chance points. We played a man defense and were able to speed the game up, get open layups and turn up the intensity.”

Ray Plummer led Block with 13 points and Anthony Barber added 11 of his own.

With the win, Block improves to 6-2.