Game 22
(12/7/09)
Monmouth-Roseville @ West Prairie
A Monday night non-conference matchup in girl's basketball. The Titans of Monmouth-Roseville bring a (6-1) record to Sciota to face the West Prairie Cyclones (1-4).
With the location just up the road from home, I took on this assignment for Titan girl's basketball. West Prairie is a tough broadcast spot, one of the stage seating spots for broadcasters.
My arrival came a few minutes before tipoff of the fresh/soph game. My buddy Shawn Dobey would be one of the officials for tonights game, gave him a good jab walking by. I made my nest up on the stage at the north end of the gymnasium.
One of the items on the stage near my setup was an old exercise bike, circa 1975ish. It's been a while since I've seen an antique exercise bike such as this one. I wanted to take it for a spin, but decided against it.
Cyclones coach Brandon Mize came up and we did our pregame interview. I slipped up and introduced him as first year head coach, getting girl's basketball confused with his taking over the football job this year. This is his second season as head coach of the girl's basketball team. Take 2 on that intro on the interview.
The fresh/soph game got ugly fast, as the visiting Titans jumped out to a 21-7 lead after the first quarter, and would cruise to a win. At halftime, I spoke with Titans head coach Jim Cole. We talked about the one blemish on the team's record, a tough loss to the Ridgewood Spartans, in the Spartans scored 31 of their 49 points from the free throw line in a one-point win.
The Titans fresh/soph came out with a 51-19 win in the preliminary game. The game went entirely way too fast, my engineer wasn't even at the station, so I called him in saying it running really early. Fortunately, I was able to squeeze both interviews in during the pregame show, but didn't have much time for any other pregame notes.
Monmouth-Roseville jumped out to a 12-5 lead at the end of one. The Titans rotated in many different girls, utilizing a long bench. Mon-Rose has 17 varsity players, while West Prairie had just eight.
Disaster struck in the second quarter for the visitors. The hosts outscored the Titans 10-0 in the first four minutes of the second quarter, taking a three-point lead, before Rebecca Gillen hit a free throw to break the schnide. Mon-Rose went 0-6 from the free throw line before that make.
The Titans would score 13 points in the second quarter, all in the final 3:54 of the quarter. Mon-Rose would take back the lead at halftime, 25-19. The Titans led by just six points despite forcing 20 turnovers, and not taking full advantage of 14 Cyclone fouls. Mon-Rose only commited seven turnovers in the first half, but struggled at the free throw line in the first two quarters (8/19).
West Prairie opened up the second half with a quick Megan Wallen basket to cut it back to a four-point game, but Mon-Rose would get hot and go on a run to take an eventual 13-point lead, boosted by an Amanda Schreck three-pointer, and three Claire McGuire field goals. The Titans took a 45-32 lead into the fourth quarter.
The Cyclones fought hard, and were able to get the lead down to eight midway through the final frame. The struggles at the free throw line for the Titans were one of the reasons that the Cyclones were able to chip back into the game. In the fourth quarter, Mon-Rose went (2/9) from the charity stripe, and finished the game (12/36) from the line.
The visitors would prevail 63-50 to improve to (7-1) on the season. Rebecca Gillen scored a game-high 22 points, and Claire McGuire added 18 points. West Prairie was led by Chelsea Derry's 16 points, while Megan Bowman added 11 points. The Cyclones went (17/23) from the line, but turned the ball over 33 times. Mon-Rose finished with 13 turnovers.
The Quest File Notes
Game 22
Date: 12/7/09
Result: Monmouth-Roseville squeaks out a 63-50 win at West Prairie
Location: Sciota
Miles: 88
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