MONROE — Over its first four games of the season, the Snohomish girls basketball team was simply not allowing the other team to score, yielding just 31.5 points per game. Surprisingly, the Panthers bettered that average against Monroe on Wednesday night.
The Snohomish defense held the Bearcats to 29 points and received enough offense to earn the Wesco 4A North win.
“We’ve always focused on defense first at Snohomish,” Snohomish head coach Ken Roberts said. “Right now, we’re getting by on hard work and athleticism. This is one of the most athletic teams we’ve had, certainly as athletic as the (2008-2009) second-place state team. It’s just that team was better offensively.”
Still missing senior point guard Morgan Green, the Panthers leaned on a a trio of underclassmen to provide most of the scoring. Sophomore guard Ellie Otteson led the way with 15 points and hit four 3-pointers, with junior Hannah Berntson adding nine. And freshman forward Madeline Smith came up big in the second half with nine of her 11 points.
“We did a good job defending in the first half,” said Monroe head coach Matt Chalfant. “But Snohomish focused on getting the ball inside (to Smith) in the second half.” Breezy Shore and Deidra Miller led Monroe with six points apiece, but the Bearcats shot just 8-for-27 from the field. Still, the Bearcats trailed by only a point heading into the fourth, in part helped by Snohomish’s lackluster 10-for-26 free-throw shooting. But foul trouble and a lack of excecution allowed the Panthers to pull away late in the fourth quarter.
“Snohomish did a better job of executing than us,” Chalfant noted. “We got some some looks, just couldn’t knock them down.”
At Monroe H.S.
Snohomish410914—37
Monroe6788—29
Snohomish—Morgan Green 0, Ellie Otteson 15, Hannah Berntson 9, Shaylee Harwood 0, Callie Harwood 0, Kayla Lachapelle 0, Madeline Smith 11, Paige Helms 2, Bailey Armbruster 0. Monroe—Tiffany Ohlsen 4, Jordyn Turner 5, Ashley Alexander 2, Kylie Smith 4, Breezy Shore 6, Chelsea Santjer 1, Alex Alexander 0, Deidra Miller 6, Amber Van Brunt 1. 3-point goals—Otteson 4, Shore. Records—Snohomish 2-0 league, 4-1 overall. Monroe 0-2, 2-3.
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