Fruita Monument girls basketball remains undefeated in league play with win over Montrose

Fruita Monument girls basketball continues to roll in league play.

The Wildcats faced off with Montrose last night, Feb. 1. Fruita built a 5-0 lead to start, and then upped it to 13-4. Montrose got a little run going to make it 15-7 after the first quarter.

Nothing would go in for Montrose in the second quarter, as the Wildcats lead went to ten. Senior Kylie Wells scored as the buzzer sounded to make it 21-11 at the half.

The Wildcats scored eight quick points to start the third, making it 29-11. They didn’t look back, leading 34-13 after three quarters en route to a 45-25 victory.

“I thought we played two solid defensive halves, which can keep us in a road game when we go six minutes without scoring like we did in the second quarter,” Fruita Monument head coach Michael Wells said. “Montrose made it tough for us to convert off our defense and did a good job of making it a half-court game early. We like to play a faster tempo and we finally got to play our game in the second half and kind of wore them out.”

“Give Fruita credit,” Montrose coach Steve Skiff said. “They were able to come in and play a very solid game and got a win. Fruita is a very talented and well coached team. I could not be more proud of the effort my team gave tonight. We did a lot of positive things to build on.”

Wells led Fruita with 12 points, while freshman Olivia Campbell had 11 and junior Trinity Hafey added seven.

Montrose senior Josie Coulter led the team with six points. Fellow senior Siera Mihavetz had five, while junior Tatum Berry and sophomore Taygan Rocco had four apiece.

The Wildcats moved to 15-2 and 4-0 in Western Slope action, while Montrose is now 9-10 and 1-4.

Montrose will host Eagle Valley, Feb. 5, while the Wildcats will host Grand Junction Central, Feb. 4.