There were 61 personal fouls, two technicals, a flagrant and 95 free throws attempted in the Montezuma-Cortez Lady Panthers’ win over Grand Junction Central (6-10) on Friday evening.
It was more of a free-throw contest than a basketball game.
The first quarter was routine, with Central leading 10-9 at the horn, but the free throws started piling up in the second.
Kiselya Plewe was aggressive on the drive and was able to draw fouls and get to the line. She was 7-of-10 from the stripe in the second, scoring nine of her team-high 24 points in the frame.
Gabby Wolf scored seven in the quarter – and 10 in the first half – and the Lady Panthers trailed by one to start the third.
“She’s just finally coming into her own,” M-CHS head coach John McHenry said of Wolf. “She was jumping out of her shoes getting rebounds, and she’s just starting to get more comfortable and finding her way on the basketball court.”
The Lady Panthers hit seven more free throws in the third quarter and added field goals by Abri Conklin and Cortney Cashner to enter the fourth up 39-38.
That’s when time stood still.
M-CHS and Central shot a combined 37 free throws in the final eight minutes.
Central was 7-of-12 in the quarter, and although the Lady Panthers got to the stripe for 25 attempts, they were only able to connect on nine.
“We should’ve been 20 points ahead,” McHenry said. “If we could’ve made free throws and layups. The fact that we were missing kept Central coming in at us and coming in at us.”
M-CHS shot just 45-percent from the stripe in the contest, hitting 30-of-67, but Plewe’s four fourth-quarter field goals and buckets by Wolf and Cashner pushed the Lady Panthers on to a 62-57 win.
Plewe led with 24 points, Wolf finished with 15 and Cashner scored all of her seven points in the second half.
Kelcie Ralstin scored just three points on the evening, but she had eight blocks and her defensive presence flustered Central inside.
“I told her I wanted to keep her in the paint,” said McHenry. “I didn’t want her straying outside. So she definitely went after it and she’s learned to time (shots) and do really well. She was able to keep her body off of them and get an arm over on (the ball).”
The Lady Panthers followed Friday’s win with a 59-29 blowout victory at Bayfield on Saturday to move to 7-5 on the season. Plewe led the team with 14 points, Yanibah Bayles and Tayla Topaha each scored 11 and Aisha Capitan knocked down three 3-pointers for nine points.
M-CHS will take on old Southwestern League foe Durango (9-2) on Tuesday before jumping back into Intermountain league play against Alamosa (4-8) on Friday.
“We’re kind of going back in to where we were and what we used to be, as opposed to where we’re going,” McHenry said of games against Grand Junction Central and Durango.
“So these are great games mid-season because they’re non conference games, but they’re good tune-ups,” he continued. “It’s like the ultimate scrimmage.”
