Freshman Emma Klapper was Montello’s top scorer against Necedah last week, recording 12 points for the night.

Topper girls best Necedah, then fall to Wautoma Hornets

January 24th vs. Necedah
The Montello Girls basketball team hosted Necedah in a non-conference girls basketball game and came away with a 55-51 victory. Montello took a 15 point lead into the 4th quarter and eventually was able to stretch that led to as many as 17 before a furious rally by the visiting Cardinals cut the Hilltopper lead all the way to one. Deandra Kendall iced the victory making 3 of 4 free throw attempts in the final 45 seconds. According to Coach Calnin, “We made this pretty interesting in the 4th quarter, but I was proud of the way the kids held on. We’ve got to learn we can never afford to let our guard down and try to coast our way through anything. We’ve got to maintain maximum effort and focus for 32 minutes. That’s our challenge going forward.”

The Hilltoppers were led in scoring by Emma Klapper with 12, followed by Morgan Janssen and Deandra Kendall with 9 points each. Other scorers for Montello were Christine Briewa with 8, Sophie Schultz and Cassidy Thiede with 6 each, Lexie LaBlanc and Abbie Swanke with 2 points each, and Bailey Hunter with 1. Janssen and Briewa led in rebounds with 15 and 12 respectively, both career highs. Swanke led in assists with 3 while Kendall led in steals with 5.

January 26th @ Wautoma
The Montello Girls basketball team traveled to Wautoma to take on the Hornets in a non-conference basketball game and came away 60-33 losers. The Hilltoppers got off to a promising start taking a 12-10 lead into the second quarter before being outscored 50-21 the rest of the way. According to Coach Calnin, “This is the 3rd straight game we’ve lacked focus and intensity on the defensive side of the ball and when you’re playing a team from as good of a conference as Wautoma is in that’s a recipe for disaster. We’ve got to get better defensively.”

The Hilltoppers were led in scoring by Deandra Kendall with 11 points while Sophie Schultz and Emma Klapper each chipped in with 8 apiece. Other scorers for Montello were Morgan Janssen with 4, and Christine Briewa with 2. Janssen and Klapper led in rebounds with 11 and 8 each while Klapper and Cassidy Thiede led in assists with 3. Klapper also led in steals with 3.
The Hilltoppers’ record now stands at 7-7.