WALES — It was an inside game against an outside game from the start.
Monmouth had the shooting prowess from the perimeter. Oak Hill had the size and strength inside. In the early going Saturday night, both teams established their respective games.
The Mustangs’ style eventually won out in a 46-36 victory. Monmouth built the early lead with a barrage of outside shots, while the Raiders’ post presence suffered because of foul trouble.
“We did shoot well early,” Monmouth coach Scott Wing said. “That was big. We had a lot of good shots. They play a zone, obviously, to take away the inside. The outside shot was what we hoped to have.”
Monmouth hit six 3s in the first half and had the lead at the half. A strong defensive effort held off the Raiders in the second half.
Oak Hill lost both Grace Sabine and Bri Mulherin to fouls, throwing off the Raiders’ game. Sabine was a force inside when she was in the game, teaming up with Abby Nadeau for strong post play. Mulherin can play inside and outside.
“That was huge, not having Grace and Bri on the floor for several minutes,” Oak Hill coach Charlie Castonguay said. “That really worked to their advantage. Our opportunities to get inside against their outside ability, we knew that was the game plan. That was critical. That was a big difference in the game, those foul calls.”
Hannah Anderson led the Mustangs (12-2) with 14 points, including a trio of 3s. She had 11 points in the first quarter. Tia Day was also hot from the outside with three 3’s and finished with 13 points and five assists. Sidney Wilson finished with seven, all coming in the second half when the Mustangs scored only 13 points.
“We’ve been practicing against the zone,” Anderson said. “We knew that’s what they were going to do against us. We started shooting when we couldn’t get it inside.”
Oak Hill (7-7) was led by Jamie Prue with 11 points. Mulherin finished with 10- points and six rebounds while Nadeau added eight points and nine rebounds.
Anderson helped put the Mustangs ahead early, scoring 11 of the team’s 17 points in the first quarter. That put the Mustangs up 17-10. She had the touch from the outside. Though Oak Hill got four points from Sabine and two from Nadeau in the post, Sabine picked up two early fouls as well.
The two teams combined for 33 fouls and that forced both clubs to adjust their lineups and gameplan.
“We said before the game that an important part of the game was going to be rebounding because they’re bigger than us,” Wing said. “I think we did a pretty good job rebounding considering, but I think boxing them out, they got a lot of fouls off that. There were a lot of over-the-back fouls. When we noticed that the refs were going to call that over-the-back stuff, I told the girls to box out well. It made a difference in the game.”
Oak Hill erased the deficit in the second quarter, hitting its first five shots. Mulherin had eight points in the quarter while Prue had seven. The Raiders tied it 29-29 with 48 seconds left in the half after an 11-2 run. Monmouth countered and took the lead at the half when Anderson hit a short jumper. Then Maddie Amero scored on a rebound for a 33-29 lead.
“Everyone was making their shots,” Anderson said. “It was bringing us up. So we were like ‘Let’s keep shooting. We’ve got this.'”
The Mustangs opened the lead in the third with a 9-2 spurt to start the second half. Wilson led the charge with back-to-back jumpers to start the third quarter. After a Nadeau rebound, Abbey Allen scored in the post and Haley West hit a free throw. Amero finished off a steal and the Mustangs were up 40-31.
“We started playing more aggressive and because of the fouls being called, we tried to play smarter but still be aggressive and go after the ball,” Anderson said.
Oak Hill shot 2-f0r-9 in the third quarter and were 1-for-11 in the fourth. The Raiders scored just seven points the entire second half.
“We didn’t really execute on the offensive end like we were hoping we could,” Castonguay said. “Again, we got a little out of sync with the foul trouble.”
Monmouth didn’t score in bunches in the second half but didn’t have too. With Anderson, Day and Allen nursing foul trouble, the Mustangs were solid on the defensive end. The Mustangs forced a number of turnovers while West was superb on the defensive boards. She finished with 12 rebounds, eight were on the defensive boards.
“Some of that was that we focused more on defense,” Wing said of the second half. “We scored 33 points in the first half. We weren’t having any offensive problems. We focused on our defense and we shut them down a little bit better.”
Monmouth led 43-33 after three quarter. Oak Hill got a 3 from Sara Noel to start the fourth, but it would be the only points the Raiders had in the final quarter. Monmouth got points from Wilson and Day to preserve the lead.
kmills@sunjournal.com
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