Alter (23-2) advances to a district final March 3 at Mason and will face either Goshen or Batavia.
PHOTOS: Nick Graham’s gallery from the game
“I thought our pressure kind of wore them down,” Alter coach Chris Hart said. “As we were getting into halftime, I think they were a little tired, and we were able to take advantage of that in the third quarter. Sometimes our pressure, even in the half court, can wear on you mentally as well as the physical part.”
Even while turnovers hindered Monroe (20-5) in the first half, the Hornets managed to stay within single digits of the Knights until Riley Priest hit a wide open 3-pointer in the final seconds to give Alter a 28-17 cushion going into the locker room.
Monroe never came any closer after that. Alter pushed the lead to 20 points six minutes into the third quarter and the Hornets had just three points in the fourth period as the Knights closed the game on a 14-0 run.
Senior Braxtin Miller finished with a game-high 15 points and seven steals to lead Alter, while classmate Libby Bazelak added 12 points, seven steals, six rebounds and five assists.
“It’s hard to duplicate the pressure — off makes, off misses, and they are just hanging around — in just one practice, which is all you get in tournament here,” Monroe coach Chad Allen said. “We tried to preach no live-ball turnovers, and that didn’t work. We kept throwing the ball away and that led to easy baskets.
“It was a good first half. A couple seconds left in the second quarter it’s an eight-point game, but we couldn’t maintain anything offensively in the second half and that’s where it got out of hand.”
The Hornets finished with 32 turnovers, 19 caused by steals, and Alter held leading scorers Katie and Sophie Sloneker — both averaging in double figures for the season — to 10 points combined. Monroe’s lone senior, Karley Gescuk, finished off her career with a team-high nine points.
“We weren’t doing anything we were supposed to do offensively,” Allen said. “We weren’t being aggressive, we were pulling back a little and we had five or six girls pass up wide-open shots to pass the ball, and that extra pass sometimes led to a turnover. Alter is part of that, part of it is sectional final — maybe a little nerves — but that’s why we’re here. We got to experience two victories and playing a third tournament victory and all those girls but one are coming back, so I think that experience will really do us good next year.”
Monroe, which set a program record for wins this year and won its first tournament game in several years, returns all but Gescuk next season.
Alter, meanwhile, looks to continue its quest for a three-peat while coming off its fourth straight sectional title.
“Every year is different, so it’s not routine because it’s a different cast of characters. So getting to this point, navigating through the difficulty of our schedule and getting geared back up for the tournament, it’s always something different,” Hart said. “Each win is a good experience and something positive to build on. If you look where we were in the beginning of the season to now, we’ve really come a long way, and that’s because they’ve improved individually so we can improve collectively as a team. I’m pleased with our effort, but we can’t be satisfied where we are.”
Monroe 10-7-4-3—24
Alter 15-13-14-19—61
MONROE (20-5): Sophie Sloneker 1 1 3, Karley Gescuk 4 1 9, Jahsalyn Robinson 1 1 3, Maddy Wehry 1 0 2, Katie Sloneker 2 2 7. Totals: 9-5-24
ALTER (23-2): Lauren Lush 2 1 5, Riley Priest 2 0 6, Nicole Hoeflinger 3 3 10, Olivia Gillis 3 3 10, Emily Long 1 1 3, Libby Bazelak 5 1 12, Braxtin Miller 7 1 15. Totals: 23-10-61
3-pointers: M 1 (K. Sloneker), A 5 (Priest 2, Hoeflinger, Gillis, Bazelak)
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