Just a few days after a miserable shooting night on the road against Fort Defiance, Monticello’s girls basketball team was on a mission to rectify the problem Wednesday against Orange County.
“We had such a terrible shooting night against Fort it was really our goal to get some easy baskets early to try and get our confidence up a little bit,” said Monticello coach Josh McElheny.
Orange caught the brunt of that confidence boost, falling 76-45 to the Mustangs in a game that was postponed Tuesday due to weather and forced into a partitioned-off portion of Monticello’s gym that put the bench and stands right on top of the action.
The Mustangs ran relentlessly against Orange, and Meghan Comer unleashed a devastating off-the-dribble attack that has been there in spurts in the past but that the 3-point sniper has clearly improved in the offseason. Comer finished with 19 points, including five buckets from inside the 3-point line.
“Her ability to drive really opens up a whole new game for us,” McElheny said. “There were a couple of times tonight where she surprised me where she ripped through and went to the basket. The more she does that the better we’re going to be, it opens up the inside.”
Comer’s expanded game combined with a strong game underneath from Molly Shephard, Reagan Roberts and Allie Perez (17, eight and eight points respectively) to put Orange in a 22-4 hole at the end of the first quarter.
With a lid seemingly on the basket for the Hornets in the first half and Monticello pushing the pace, Orange couldn’t find a counter.
“If we’d hit some shots early I think we’d have been a lot better off,” Rabe said. “I was very proud of the second quarter. The first four minutes of the second quarter we battled back and we’re down 14 and that showed a lot of heart. But that didn’t last long. We’ve got to look to battle early.”
Orange didn’t allow Monticello to extend the lead by much before the break and trailed by 20 at halftime, but another run in the third quarter by the Mustangs put the game well out of reach.
Sophomore point guard Kiani Hudgens led the Hornets with seven points.
Orange County will try and regroup when they hit the road to take on Fluvanna County Friday night before stepping back out of district on Saturday for a rivalry clash with Madison County. Monticello gets a chance to keep things going Friday night in a major rivalry clash with Western Albemarle.
