×

Monarchs pull away from Bruins in opener  

IN CONTROL — Brooke’s Mikala Villa dribbles the floor up the court Tuesday night against John Marshall. -- Kim North

MOUNDSVILLE — Brock Melko didn’t really know what to expect from his youthful John Marshall girls basketball team. What he saw Tuesday night, despite a few hiccups, he liked. 

The Monarchs placed four players in double figures, rebounded well and played solid defense in a 61-37 victory over visiting Brooke inside the Junior High Fieldhouse. 

“I really liked our balanced scoring. I thought all four of our freshmen really handled themselves well tonight in their first taste of varsity action,” Melko said. “I don’t think any of them played their best game, so they can only get better. 

“I liked our energy, especially at the defensive end of the floor,” he noted. “However, we’ve still got a lot to work on.” 

Sophomore Kaitlyn Blake, coming off a sparkling freshman season in which she averaged a double-double, led the quartet with a game-best 22 points, with 10 of those coming in the third quarter when the hosts began to put some distance between themselves and the Bruins. 

“Early turnovers and missed shots,” Brooke head coach Amy Serevicz said. “Our shooting percentage had to be really, really low tonight. For our first time out, we’ve never started this early, we could’ve used a couple more practices, but, overall I thought we played pretty well. We played as a team and played decent defense, but you have to be able to score the ball.” 

John Marshall led 12-8 after one quarter and held a 27-17 advantage at the half. Meanwhile, Brooke charted 16 of it two dozen turnovers in the first 16 minutes and only connected on 8 of 26 shots from the floor. 

“We didn’t look smooth in the first half. We seemed choppy. We were inches away from executing what we wanted to execute,” Melko added. “We never got a smooth flow going until the final quarter. 

The Monarchs used a 14-12 third quarter nod to bump their lead before extending it with a 20-8 scoring edge in the fourth quarter. 

Freshman Rilee Storm got her varsity career started off on the right foot with 11 points, four rebounds and a handful of assists. Classmate Kaylee White added 10 points and several assists, while junior Kayli Derrow finished with 10 points, five rebounds and four steals.  

Senior Lilie Babiczuk pulled down a game-leading 10 rebounds as the Monarchs won the battle of the boards, 51-34. Blake was close behind with nine. 

Ava Bolen was Brooke’s lone twin-figure scorer with 15. Mikala Villa had seven off the bench. Bolen and Bailey Serevicz both had seven boards. 

Brooke plays Thursday at 8 p.m. in its own Tournament against Weir. That follows Bellaire and Linsly at 6. The two losers play Friday at 6, with the winners meeting at 8 for the championship. John Marshall welcomes University on Friday. 

John Marshall 61, Brooke 37 

BROOKE (37) – Schwertfeger 2 0-2 4; Serevicz 0 0-1 0; Bolen 6 3-5 15; Lippollo 2 0-0 5; Buterbaugh 1 0-0 2; Villa 3 1-4 7; Ortiz 2 0-0 4; Jones 0 0-2 0; Pennybacker 0 0-0 0; Valero 0 0-0 0; Totals: 16-52 4-14 37. JOHN MARSHALL (61) – Derrow 4 2-2 10; Storm 2 6-7 11; White 4 1-1 10; Babiczuk 0 3-4 3; Blake 11 0-1 22; Finley 0 0-0 0; M. Miller 0 0-0 0; Updegraff 0 0-2 0; N. Miller 1 0-0 2; Inclan 1 0-0 3; Totals: 23-47 12-17 61 

3-point goals: B  – Lippolli. JM – Storm, White, Inclan

NEWSLETTER

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *

Starting at $4.73/week.

Subscribe Today