“We definitely came out a lot harder and more confident,” said Buskirk, a junior forward. “We started making shots. I think our defense started clicking better.
“Coach helped us realize that we weren’t coming out strong. It seemed like we were half asleep, which we were.”
Monroe woke up in the third quarter after Madison led 8-6 heading into the locker room. The Hornets outscored the Mohawks 12-3 in the third and 13-8 in the fourth.
Monroe (3-7) snapped a four-game losing streak to Madison (3-7).
“We’ll take them anyway we can get them,” Hornets second-year coach Justin Clemmons said. “I thought we played really well in the second half. We got on them a little bit at halftime about how we didn’t think we were playing as hard as we can — executing the way we needed to.
“We gave up eight points (at halftime), which is what we do defensively. We needed to execute a little better on offense, and I thought at halftime they responded really well.”
Juniors Emma Adolph and Jordan McComas each scored seven points for Monroe, which got some momentum in the third quarter thanks to a pair of 3-point buckets from Adolph and Maya Martinez.
We’re cooking now, Monroe leads Madison 26-15 with 4:25 left to play pic.twitter.com/mfubjPZdRh
— 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑹𝒆𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕 (@TheReportOhio) January 3, 2025
“We haven’t seen the ball go through the net as much as we would like to this year,” Clemmons said. “You look at our stats, we’re not shooting the ball as well as we think we can. To get those to go through is huge for morale. If you see one go through, then it’s like, ‘Oh, OK. We can make some shots.’
“It doesn’t matter how well we guard if we don’t see the ball go through the net. Seeing those shots go in was huge.”
Madison was held to its lowest point total this season. The Mohawks were led by junior Liv Carpenter (eight points) and senior Malerie Bobbitt (six points).
“We knew it was going to be a struggle to score,” Madison first-year coach Tommy McGuire said. “Both teams have struggled to score this year, and that was obvious to everybody. But in the first half, what we did was we rebounded, and we took care of the ball on the offensive end.
“When they went on their run in the second half, they hit shots when we were in transition trying to get back and kind of scrambling a little bit to find a man,” McGuire added. “They’d hit a shot, we’d come down and turn it over. Then we’re scrambling again. We really didn’t get to set our defense. That hurt us.
“When they went their press, instead of just taking what the defense gives us and attacking it, we just wanted to pass the ball around and had mental moments to where we weren’t doing the things that we’ve practiced for the last six, seven days. As a young team, we have to understand that teams go zone to keep you out of the paint. It doesn’t mean just stop trying to get there. That’s what we’re learning right now.”
Both teams play at home on Saturday with 1:15 p.m. tipoffs. Monroe hosts Harrison, while Madison welcomes Waynesville.
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