Lady Tigers get Impressive Victory over Monterey
By Terry Futrell – November 20, 2018
The Sunbright Lady Tigers basketball team came back from an early deficit and dominated the Monterey Lady Wildcats, winning 66-45 Tuesday evening.
The Lady Wildcats jumped out to an early 10-5 lead over the Lady Tigers with 4:22 on the clock in the 1st quarter with impressive 3-point shooting. At that point Sunbright Coach Rusty Yaden unleashed his ferocious felines and went on the attack, both defensively and offensively.
The full court pressure applied by the Lady Tigers totally took Monterey out of their rhythm, resulting in hurried, missed shots and bad passing by the Lady Wildcats. Monterey turnovers created opportunities for the fast-paced Lady Tigers to run their fast-break offense. As the Lady Tigers got into their own rhythm, their shots began falling and Sunbright took the lead at 16-15 with two minutes to go and led 19-15 at the end of the 1st quarter. The Lady Tigers led 34-23 at the half, 54-38 after three, and closed out at 66-45.
The Lady Tigers were led by Makenna Brown with 25 points and Olivia Northrup with 13 points. Monterey was led by Anna Hudson with 20 points. Sunbright’s scoring came as a result of continuous ball movement and constant inside penetration. Monterey was unable to penetrate on the Lady Tigers because of their smothering defense and was forced to take a lot of perimeter shots. This difference is noted in the number of 2-point baskets scored by each team: 23 for Sunbright vs only eight for Monterey.
Coach Yaden took advantage of the opportunity to give his freshman players some valuable experience. At one point near the end of the first half, four of five Sunbright players on the court were freshmen.
The Lady Tigers made a big statement with this win – they are definitely in the hunt for the District 3A championship! Opponents who like to play grandma’s style of slow basketball are in for a rude awakening.
The stage is set for a fierce battle between the Lady Tigers and district competitor Midway Lady Greenwave on November 30 at Sunbright. It was the Lady Greenwave who defeated Sunbright in the first round of the District 3A tournament on February 16, and the Lady Tigers would love to avenge that loss.