Monroe girls rout Cook

ALBANY — With region play approaching, Monroe head coach Jennifer Acree said her goal is to get her team to a point where it’s creating havoc with stifling defense for 32 straight minutes.

It started by creating havoc on Cook, defeating it 91-37 for its first region victory of the season.

Both teams were off and running from the start of the game, but it was the Lady Tornadoes who were able to convert more of their transition baskets and build a 16-3 lead midway through the first quarter. Acree said the goal was to get out and run and use their defense to create offense.

Cook was still able to get down the floor in a hurry after successful baskets and defensive rebounds. It did an adequate job of spacing the floor but had trouble finishing transition baskets. It went on a 6-2 run to make it a 22-11 game with 1:33 left in the second period.

But Monroe answered with a 7-0 run to close out the quarter.

Acree said her team had goals every quarter and she reminded her team of said goals at each dead ball. At the end of the first, she urged her team not to let up and Key Key Price exploded for 12 points in the second quarter. They went into the halftime break with a 57-23 lead.

Price finished with a game high 20 points.

The second half started with Cook’s lightning quick guard Lakeydra Zackery flying to the basket and drawing a foul, but Monroe had an answer for every Cook basket and then some as it cruised to its eighth victory of the season.

Despite the offensive outpouring, Acree said she was more impressed with her team’s defense.

“I didn’t like anything in particular from our offense,” she said. “I told them we’re a team that scores and has a lot of success with defense and our transition baskets. So we’ve got to keep that in mind. We’ve got to keep the tempo up and our defense will create our offense and tonight, we were able to create 90 points.”

Monroe had 11 different players get in the score book with Price leading the way, followed by Treasure Frazier with 14 and Erica Hayes with 12.

Over the holiday break, Monroe competed in a tournament in Alabama where Acree said they faced some stiff competition. She said her team learned it could hang with the best if it sticks to the game plan.

“We learned that we will be in every single game, it’s up to us whether or not we finish the game,” she said. “What we do defensively, we can be in any and every game and we was.”

Monroe is now 8-6 on the season and 1-0 in Region 1-AAAA. On deck is cross-town rival Westover next Tuesday. The game will be at Westover at 6 p.m.

MONROE BOYS 54, COOK 46: The Monroe Tornadoes showed very little rust despite not having played a game since Dec. 22. They used a second half surge to defeat Cook.

The Tornadoes played from behind the entire first half and went into the halftime break down 21-19. Head coach Marquis Davis said it took his team a little while to get back into the swing of things and at halftime he urged them put more pressure on Cook.

They responded by starting the third quarter with a 7-0 run that included a beautiful lob from Emersean Offord to Devonte Young in transition for the lay-up to make it 26-21. Cook pulled within two at the end of the third, but a 5-0 run by Offord put the game out of reach. Cook later drew a technical foul and Monroe iced the game at the free throw line.

Offord finished with a team high 17 points, followed by Young with 15 and Trentavious Jackson with 13.

The Tornadoes are 1-0 in Region 1-AAAA play and Davis said the key moving forward will be executing as well as having a deep rotation. He said in a region this tough, the starting five will not be enough and his goal is to have 10 players ready to go.

They’ll have another challenge next Tuesday at Westover at 7:30 p.m.