Bears End the Season on a Tough Loss to the Vikings
In the first round of the class 1A basketball sectionals, the Blue River Vikings took down the Monroe Central Bears. The Bears struggled all night to get into a flow offensively, and couldn’t stop a tough Viking team on the defensive end. The Bears fell 43-58 to the Vikings.
Monroe Central started out the first quarter extremely slow. Blue River came out of the gates with a big three pointer from senior Aaron Knupp and never looked back. They were quick at moving the ball, and scored from just about everywhere on the court. The Vikings also absolutely owned the boards, many of their points coming from offensive rebounds. The score was 13-11 finishing out the first quarter.
In the second quarter the Bears started to show a little life. Junior Derek Taylor was able to sink a free throw that tied the score with 3:29 left in the half. Senior star Logan Thomas was restricted to the bench for most of the second quarter due to foul trouble, which slowed the Bear offense downed tremendously and Blue River was able to regain control of the half. They were lead in scoring by senior Stephen Kountz with 12 points at the half. Kountz helped propel the Vikings to a lead of 23-20 at the half.
The Bears kept with the Vikings in the third quarter, but were not quite able to pull ahead. The Vikings allowed the Bears to stay in the game with multiple turnovers throughout the game. The score at the end of the third was 34-29.
The fourth quarter marked foul trouble for several Monroe Central Bears, with one fouling out, and others on the bench. Blue River never let down the intensity at any point in the game. This put the Bears in desperation mode, taking a lot of forced shots. The game slipped away from the Bears slowly in the fourth and they ended up losing by 15 points. Kountz led the Vikings in scoring with 19 points on the evening, while Thomas led the Bears with 12 followed by senior Rhett Braun with 10.
The Monroe Central seniors were taken out of the game with about 35 seconds left, and received a well-deserved ovation from the crowd, as they sat on the bench for the last time. The Bears ended their season with a record of 11-10.
   | Lady Bears Pull Out a Sectional Championship!
The number 5 ranked Randolph Southern Lady Rebels fell in a huge upset to the Monroe Central Lady Bears on Saturday night in intense sectional final game. In a game filled with adversity and intensity, the Bears were able to come back from behind a 40-35 deficit at the end of the third quarter, to win by a score of 56-49. Bears senior guard Makayla Thurman led the charge with 29 points on the evening. Thurman was able to blow by Southern’s defense, beating them on the drive. Monroe Central, as a team, was able to put up a tough defensive unit to slow down the explosive Rebels. In the paint, Junior center Betsy Lamb and Senior forward Kelley Lacey did an excellent job clogging up the lane. Randolph Southern played hard all night, but they just could not hold on to the lead in the end. Senior center Alyssa Davis went down with a knee injury early in the first half, and did not return to the game. This proved deadly to the rebels because Davis is excellent on the boards. Another shortcoming for the Rebels was free throws, missing ten on the night.
Controversy struck late in the fourth quarter with only 6 seconds left in the game with the score being 51-49 Monroe Central. The ball was inbounded to Monroe Central’s Thurman, and Rebel senior forward Emily Wissel fouled her hard from behind. Randolph Souther, Coach Osting, vehemently protested the foul, drawing a double technical, he was then ejected from the game. This brought Thurman to the foul line to shoot 6 shots. Of those 6, Thurman sunk 5 wrapping up the game for Monroe Central. "Accomplished Goal," was Coach Jeff Tharp's response in an interview after his team's huge win. Randolph Southern closed up their season with a record of 16 and 5. Monroe Central improved their record to 15 and 7; they will advance to play in the first round of the Tri Central Regional next Saturday, February 19. |
   | The Lady Bears Advance to the Tri Sectional Finals The Tri sectional started out tonight with three Randolph County teams, and ended with only two by the time the final buzzer sounded. Friday was a long night for Union City as they fell to the Monroe Central Bears 63-31. The Bears took the lead in the first quarter by a score of 18-2, and continued to dominate the rest of the game.
Makayla Thurman, a senior guard for Monroe Central led the Bears with 27 points, a season high for her. Kelley Lacey, the senior center/forward, and junior guard Katelind Phillips also added 5 points each. The Bears were able to penetrate the defense and put up big points in the paint. The Bears also played an aggressive zone defense, shutting down the Lady Indians.
Senior guard Lindsey Bond showed leadership and passion for her team in a tough loss last evening, and fellow Senior guard Kourtney Petry connected for two big three pointers. In the end Union City just could not match up well with Monroe Central, and turnovers proved fatal.
The Monroe Central Bears will meet country rivals the Randolph Southern Rebels on Saturday night at 7:30 at Tri High School. Monroe Central improves to 14 and 7, while Union City closes their season with the record of 7 and13.
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The Bears Fall to the Falcons
Tuesday night the Monroe Central Bears and the Winchester Golden Falcons squared off at the Winchester field house. In a game where defense dictated the game, the Falcons were victorious by a final score of score of 65 to 52.
In the first half the Monroe Central Bears played tenacious defense and were able to shut down the Falcon offense. Winchester was down 19 to 17 at the half, but Senior guard Noah Berry for the Falcons came up with a major steal and block with about a minute left in the half. Senior guard Logan Tomas for Monroe Central led the offensive campaign with 29 points, while Brandt Miller scored 26 for Winchester.
Winchester came out with a new plan of attack in the second half. The full court press shook up the Bears causing 12 turnovers. Thomas also went down in the second half, aggravating a previous knee injury. Although he returned to the game, his mobility and ability to score were limited. Junior guard Connor Detweiler grabbed two consecutive steals to shift the momentum towards the black and gold. The Falcons then lit up the score board to finish out the game
Winchester improved their record to 14 and 2 on the season. Monroe Central fell to 7 and 8 for the year. The Falcons next game will be at home on February 10th, and the Bears will take on Blue Rive at home on the same date.
 | Monroe Central Wrestlers Moving On To Regionals! Sectionals for the Bears was held at Delta, and two MC wrestlers are moving on to the next round. We would like to congratulate Alex Ordonez, a sophomore, wrestling in the 125 weight class will move on after finishing 3rd overall. Also advancing for the bears is Junior Taylor Morris; Morris finished second in the 213 weight class. Also, great job to the other wrestlers who competed against some very stiff competition. Regionals will be held at Jay County on February 5th. |
