Patterson and Abshear too much for Starfires
Sydney Patterson and Kimber Abshear combined to score 33 points for Monroe Central as the Golden Bears defeated the South Adams Starfires on Monday night, 47-36.
Playing on their home court in Berne, the Starfires started the better of the two teams.
Emmerson Smith drained two first-quarter threes. Addie Baker knocked down a pair of shots from inside the arc.
Abshear scored six points in the first for Monroe Central (9-2, 3-0 Mid-Eastern). Patterson connected once from behind and once from in front of the line.
South Adams (4-8, 1-1 Allen County) took a 12-11 lead into the second quarter.
A big second act for the Golden Bears changed the game.
Nine points from Patterson in the second helped Monroe Central go in front. Abshear added four more in the quarter.
On the other end, South Adams had a difficult time reigniting their offense.
Smith made another three, and Laney Trausch and Macy Pries each scored two points, but when the buzzer sounded for halftime, the Starfires found themselves trailing, 28-19.
The third quarter was even tougher for the Starfire attack.
Pries converted each of the four free throws she attempted in the third, but South Adams could only score six points in the period.
While South Adams had gone cold offensively, Monroe Central continued to motor along when they had the ball.
After going scoreless in the first half, Addy Puckett produced four third-quarter points. Patterson and Abshear each netted two-pointers.
By the time the fourth quarter got underway, Monroe Central had opened up a 13-point advantage. Nevertheless, South Adams continued to battle in the late stages.
Active defense by the Starfires led to Golden Bear turnovers.
Smith, who led the Starfires in points, found the same scoring form she had in the first half. She sank two more triples to help keep South Adams within range.
The Starfires would reduce the deficit as far as eight points, but could not get any closer.
Another three by Puckett and three more points by Patterson helped Monroe Central close out the contest.
In spite of the loss, it was a fantastic performance by Smith. Her five three-pointers put her at 15 points by the end of the evening. Smith also played well on the defensive end of the floor, creating three steals.
Macy Pries reached doubles figures with 10 points to go along with six assists and five steals.
Laney Trausch turned in six points and eight rebounds.
The defeat was the second in a row for the Starfires. They will try to snap the streak with a difficult Allen County Athletic Conference test at Jay County on Saturday night at 7:30 p.m.
The Patriots are currently 8-2 overall and 2-0 in the ACAC.
South Adams will host Adams Central on December 20th before completing the 2023 portion of their season at Central Noble on December 29th.