After a string of five wins, the Monroe Central Golden Bears's good fortune finally ran out on Thursday. They took a 46-35 hit to the loss column at the hands of Lapel. Monroe Central has not had much luck with Lapel recently, as the team's come up short the last two times they've met.
Monroe Central lost despite a true team effort on the offense, the best among them being Sydney Patterson, who scored ten points. Patterson scored a full 28.6% of Monroe Central's points, the third time in a row she's earned more than a third of the team's points. Another player making a difference was Kimber Abshear, who scored nine points along with six rebounds and five blocks.
Monroe Central struggled to get the ball back on offense and finished the game with only three offensive rebounds. That's the fewest offensive rebounds they've managed all season.
Leading Lapel to victory were Madelyn Poynter and Laniah Wills. Poynter scored 19 points, while Wills dropped a double-double on 19 points and 16 rebounds. The match was Wills' 13th in a row with at least ten points. Amyiah Nunn was another key contributor, scoring two points along with three steals.
Monroe Central's loss dropped their record down to 9-3. As for Lapel, their victory was their ninth straight on the road dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 11-2.
Both teams are looking forward to the support of their home crowds in their upcoming games. Monroe Central will be home for the holidays to greet Blackford at 7:00 p.m. on Monday. Blackford is strutting with some offensive muscle, as they've averaged 52.6 points per game. Lapel will be home for the holidays to greet Hamilton Heights at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Hopefully Hamilton Heights focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up five on Saturday.
