The worst and best of times for Monte girls

After playing what was arguably their worst game of the season at Benson Friday, the Montevideo girls basketball team bounced back with one of their best efforts to defeat Morris/Chokio-Alberta Tuesday.

The T-Hawks will close out the regular season with home games against Benson today (Thursday), Paynes­ville Friday and Yellow Medicine East Tuesday.

Benson 60, Montevideo 32
Benson closed the first half with a 20-4 run and coasted to a 60-32 home win over Montevideo Friday.

The Thunder Hawks got off to a good start with Amber Barnes scoring three baskets for an 8-7 lead, but it was all Benson the rest of the way.

Abby Fragodt had 11 points and 15 rebounds for Benson (10-4, 16-6). Barnes and Brooke Tastad had seven points each for Montevideo.

Scoring by halves
Montevideo 15 17 — 32
Benson 29 31 — 60
Monte — 11-64 FG; 8-14 FT; 30 rebounds; 16 fouls. Scoring: Brooke Tastad 7, Beka Schwen­de­mann 2, Karrissa Larson 3, Shelby Monahan 2, Elissa Christensen 5, Jaci Clauson 2, Miranda Kostboth 2, Amber Barnes 7, Nichole Strei 2. Rebounds: Larson 6. Steals: Tastad 3. 3-point FG: 2-18 (Tastad 1, Christensen 1).

Monte 51, Morris/CA 48
The T-Hawks knocked Morris/Chokio-Alberta out of sole possession of second place in the conference with a 51-48 win at Morris Tuesday. The Tigers had beaten Montevideo 50-37 earlier this season.

Brooke Tastad made a pair of free throws with 12 seconds left after grabbing an offensive rebound to seal the win.

Scoring by halves
Montevideo 28 23 — 51
Morris/CA 27 21 — 48
Monte — 16-48 FG; 11-16 FT; 32 rebounds; 18 fouls. Scoring: Brooke Tastad 17, Beka Schwen­de­mann 12, Karrissa Lar­son 8, Shelby Monahan 6, Jaci Clauson 3, Amber Barnes 5. Rebounds: Lar­son 10, Tastad 9. Assists: Schwendemann 6, Tastad 4, Ash­ley Rodeberg 3. Steals: Larson 3, Tastad 2. Blocks: Tastad 2. 3-point FG: 6-23 (Tastad 3, Mona­han 2, Schwende­mann 1).