Montrose girls basketball beats Mesa Ridge to reach 4A Sweet 16
Montrose girls basketball, seeded No. 8, beat No. 25 Mesa Ridge in the second round of the Class 4A state tournament on Friday.
Montrose won, 49-43.
“I am extremely happy with a win over a tough Mesa Ridge team who would not quit.” Montrose coach Steve Skiff said. “I could not be happier for all our players and we are excited to move on.”
Montrose got 19 points from Kennadie Minerich, and 17 from Allie Nichols.
“We had several big contributions tonight,” Skiff said “We also had an outstanding defensive effort from Hadley Greiner who was assigned to Mesa Ridge top player and did a great job of making her work had all night.”
Montrose led 19-7 after the first quarter, and 32-19 at half.
“I thought we came out with great energy and got off to a great start and played solid the rest of the game,” Skiff said. “I thought we had some great plays down the stretch and made some big free throws at the end.”
Those free throws helped Montrose secure the game. Mesa Ridge cut the Montrose lead to 41-37 with 2:28 to play. Minerich also hit a 3-pointer which helped spread that lead to 44-37.
“We executed the plan really well and did what we set out to do,” Minerich said. “We had great inside-outside game and had big defensive plays throughout the game.”
Said Hadley Greiner: “It was a great team effort and I thought they all contributed in the win.”
Mesa Ridge was led by Monet Hubbard with 18 points, and Serin Dunne with 11.
The Indians will now face ninth-seeded Mullen in the Sweet 16.
