With the way the Montesano Bulldogs played in it’s postseason opening win they might have to change their name to the “Ball Hawks.”
Montesano swarmed La Center right from the start, scoring points in a flurry and never letting up in a 67-5 win in a 1A District 4 Tournament first-round game on Thursday in Montesano.
Like a 60-meter indoor sprinter after an incredible holeshot, Montesano (19-3 overall) won this one at the start, smothering the Wildcats to score eight points in the first 1:08 of the game before the Wildcats could get the ball across half court.
After winning the opening tip, Bulldogs freshman forward Evanjillie “Jillie” Dalan scored off a baseline bounce pass from senior guard Vanna Prom on the first possession of the game.
Monte immediately went into it’s intimidating, in-your-face full-court press defense, and the investment produced tremendous returns.
Bulldogs senior guard Mikayla Stanfield stole the Wildcats inbound pass and scored to make it 4-0 followed by another Monte steal from Stanfield, who assisted Jaiden King for a bucket to put Monte up 6-0 before 30 had elapsed on the game clock.
A third consecutive steal followed by a layup from reigning league MVP McKynnlie Dalan put Monte up 8-0 at 6:52 of the contest, forcing a quick La Center timeout.
RYAN SPARKS | THE DAILY WORLD Montesano’s Mikayla Stanfield, left, and McKynnlie Dalan swarm La Center’s Talia Wise during the Bulldogs’ 67-5 victory in the first round of the 1A District 4 Tournament on Thursday in Montesano.
But the Wildcats’ reprieve from the onslaught was short-lived as a fourth-straight Montesano steal followed by a Stanfield layup had the Bulldogs up by double-digits at the 6:35 mark.
La Center (4-16) finally got the ball up the court on the ensuing possession, but a wayward pass caused a backcourt violation, which Monte quickly converted into points with a pair of McKynnlie Dalan free throws to go up 12-0.
“The energy and intensity. It was all of us coming out and saying, ‘Hey, we are going to start intense, right off the bat, and get into it and that’s what we did,” Stanfield said.
“We thought our last two games that we didn’t have quite the energy at the start that we’ve had before,” Montesano head coach Mark Mansfield said. “So we talked about that this week that we needed to come out and get after it early, right at the start, and try and get on them quickly. … We wanted to get on them and put them in a hole right from the start.”
Monte never let up for the remainder of the first period, taking a 20-0 lead on bucket by senior guard Maia Young after two Montesano offensive rebounds at the two-minute mark.
By the time the dust had settled, Montesano held a 27-0 lead at the end of the first quarter and had figuratively delivered a walloping first-round knockout.
In the second quarter, Monte would lead 44-0 on a McKynnlie Dalan steal and layup before the Wildcats would end the shutout bid.
Wildcats freshman forward Adyson Madock scored with 1:20 left in the first half to break the goose egg.
Monte led 46-4 at the half and kept the Wildcats scoreless in the third quarter to lead 63-4 at the end of the third quarter.
With Monte’s starters getting a rest for the majority of the fourth quarter, the Bulldogs reserves held La Center to a lone point on a Jane Cottle free throw in the fourth quarter as Monte looked every bit the part of a state-tournament bound team in the 67-5 victory that lasted approximately one hour.
“We talked that this game flowed right into the next game and we wanted to get off to a good start,” Mansfield said. “When our defense is moving like that, we have a lot more confidence. … This was exactly what we wanted.”
Four players scored in double figures for Montesano as the Bulldogs continued to exhibit a more diverse, balanced offensive game as the season has progressed.
Stanfield (15 points, 7 steals, 4 assists, 3 rebounds) and McKynnlie Dalan (15 points, 5 rebounds, 4 steals) led Montesano in scoring while Jillie Dalan (10 points, 5 rebounds, steal, block) and Young (10 points, 7 steals, 4 assists) also broke double-digits for Montesano.
RYAN SPARKS | THE DAILY WORLD Montesano’s Jillie Dalan (24) and La Center’s Talia Wise, right, pursue a loose ball during the Bulldogs’ 67-5 victory in the first round of the 1A District 4 Tournament on Thursday in Montesano.
“It’s definitely awesome to see. We’re definitely getting in rhythm with each other,” Stanfield said. “We’ve been playing with each other so long, so we know each other. It’s just distributing the ball, finding the open person so you don’t just have to rely on one person.”
The Bulldogs shot 29 of 74 from the field (39.2%) and 8 of 14 from the free-throw line (57.1%).
As good as the offense was, it was the Montesano defense that stole the show on Thursday. The Bulldogs outrebounded the Wildcats 31-11 and forced 38 turnovers leading to 35 Montesano steals.
The Bulldogs also had 16 deflections on the evening – a key stat for Mansfield and his coaching staff — led by Prom, who had half of those with eight and also had a team-high eight steals in a stellar defensive performance.
“Everybody was flying around, if we didn’t get a steal there was a deflection that led to someone else coming up with the ball,” Mansfield said. “It was a great start, exactly what we wanted and we kept it up. … Overall, we played with the intensity we wanted to play with tonight. As a group, we were moving on the pass and when they caught it, we were right there and they had nowhere to go.”
Montesano advances to the district semifinals, where it will host King’s Way Christian (11-5) at 6 p.m. on Saturday, with the winner earning an invitation to the state tournament’s regional round.
La Center 0 4 0 1 – 5
Montesano 27 19 17 4 — 67
Scoring: La Center – Maddock 2, Pratt 2, Cottle 1. Montesano – M. Dalan 15, Stanfield 15, Young 10, E. Dalan 10, Prom 6, King 5, Schrader 2, York 2, Bruland 2.
