Story and Photos by Rusty Ellis
The Monterey Lady Wildcats made program history on Friday night, advancing to their first-ever district title game after taking down Sequatchie County 66-56.
Both offense came out swinging from the opening tip, but it was Monterey who gained a slight upper-hand on the strength of two Abbie Sasser three-pointers. When the first quarter buzzer sounded, the Lady Wildcats found themselves holding a 19-17 lead.
The defenses took over in the second quarter, as the Lady Wildcats held Sequatchie to just 13 points and outscored them 16-13 to take a 35-30 lead into the halftime locker room.
The Lady Indians surged back into the game in the third quarter, outscoring Monterey 13-8 to tie the game at 43 heading into the fourth quarter.
There, Monterey converted at the free-throw line and put together a 10-0 in the fourth to take control and clinch their first-ever trip to the district championship with a 66-56 win over Sequatchie County.
Sasser finished with a game-high 21 points to lead the Lady Wildcats, while recent Maryville signee Adaline Clouse added 17 points of her own. Jordyn Walker scored 13 points as well to help lead Monterey to the win for first-year head coach Michelle Farley-Carson.
“We’re really excited, I think we’re all at a loss for words,” Farley-Carson said. “I think we had a lot of players step up for us…Abbie Sasser had a really good game and stepped up for us. Adaline is always good on the boards. The main thing was that we were trying to slow down the game, because the last couple times we’ve played them, we pressed them and they kind of gotten a lot of their points off that.”
Defensively in the fourth quarter is where Monterey won the game, as Farley-Carson says it was due to her team pressuring better in half-court and finishing possessions.
“I think the biggest thing we told them was to avoid the fouls, and they did a good job of closing out,” Farley-Carson said. “I kept reiterating that we’ve got to close out on those threes, and I think we did a better job of that (in the fourth).”
Monterey will meet York in the district championship on Monday at 7:30 P.M.
