Inside-out basketball the name of the game for Monett
By Jared Lankford monettsports@gmail.com
It takes time for a team to gel and find its identity, and the Monett girls basketball squad is no exception.
After an impressive 69-54 win over New Heights Christian Academy on Jan. 17, the Lady Cubs improved to 7-7 after the win and finished the month 10-9 on the season.
“Compared to last year’s schedule, we’ve have a much tougher schedule this year,” said Josh Kleine, Monett girls basketball coach. “We’ve gotten better over the last couple of years, and some of the teams we played last year dropped us, so we had to add teams like Miller, Clever and Branson. We’re 7-7 right now; it isn’t where we want to be, but given the games we’ve played, I like our growth.”
This year’s squad is starting to come together, and the win over the Lady Cougars showed Kleine that the team is taking steps forward.
“I think we’re steadily gelling and getting better each game,” Kleine said. “Against New Heights, we played solidly on defense. The Lady Cougars had an Evangel commitment on their team and we clamped down on her. She had a few put-backs on us — but overall, we locked her down.”
Kleine highlighted the development and growth of senior Hallie Schoen.
Schoen is averaging nearly a double-double for the Lady Cubs with 10.5 points and 9.5 rebounds per game.
“I just want to try and lead by my example,” Schoen said. “Since my freshman year, I have just been focused on getting better. I want to be focused on being a better player and teammate. Whether that means crashing the boards scoring — whatever the team needs — I try to do.”
Along with Schoen, the Lady Cubs are led in scoring by a pair of juniors in Meredith Merriman and Kilee Wilson, averaging 12.1 and 12 points per game, respectively.
The Lady Cubs are also comfortable going to their bench and bringing in Fenli Wilson and Vayla Smith.
Kleine praised both players’ tenacity and speed. Smith usually draws the dirty work of guarding the opponents best perimeter threat.
“I’ve said all season long that I feel like I have seven starters on this team,” Kleine said. “We played Miller, and Vayla did an outstanding job limiting a three-time All-State player for them. We have played with the [starting] rotation some, but it is a good feeling to know that we have this depth. I know we have three or four shooters that can get hot.
“When you have four that can score, it makes a big difference on how you can run your offense and makes it hard on other teams and coaches to plan for us.”
Going forward, the Lady Cubs are focused on doing the little things correctly.
“I think for us the key will be consistently playing inside-out basketball,” Kleine said. “I told the girls that when we get touches of the ball inside to Meredith and Hallie, whether they score or not. That is when we are the best.
“If the teams don’t collapse on them, they are going to score. If they do collapse, that is when we are finding our shooters on the outside.”
