CHEBOYGAN – With 10.5 seconds left in the third quarter, Inland Lakes was up against the ropes.
After seeing their 16-point halftime lead trimmed to just four after a big Newberry run Saturday, March 14, somebody had to make something happen and turn momentum back in the Bulldogs’ favor, and quickly.
About 30 feet from the hoop, senior Molly Monthei took a pass from Addison Byrne and decided to let one fly. Right before the buzzer sounded, Monthei’s long-ranged shot went through the net, putting the Bulldogs back in control with a 32-25 lead heading into the final period of play.
It might have just been the biggest shot of the season for the Bulldogs, who outlasted the Indians with a 39-29 victory in Cheboygan, a triumph that sealed a first-ever regional championship for Inland Lakes High School basketball on Saturday.
“This was great,” Monthei said. “Last year we had adversity with the whole thing with the water pipes at the school, and we had to play at St. Ignace, but I think we handled it a lot better this year, and I’m just so happy to be able to do it with all my seniors and the girls I’ve been playing with since elementary.”
While Monthei doesn’t start on an Inland Lakes squad full of depth, she’s embraced her role as a pivotal reserve throughout a magical state tournament run, providing the Bulldogs with stout defense and clutch shooting at the perfect time of the season.
“I’ve had a different role this year, but I became used to it and I’m just trying to make the best of it,” Monthei said. “(It wasn’t) frustrating that I wasn’t starting. It was just my minutes were limited for a while, but I take accountability for that. That was because I didn’t have the best practices, and now I’m just ready to go.”
When Monthei comes into the game, she does everything she can to set an energetic tone for the Bulldogs, who have constantly overwhelmed their opponents with suffocating defense. But, like most players, she wanted to be on the court as much as possible. So, she went to Vizina and asked what she needed to do to make that happen.
Vizina listened and let her know.
“I told her, ‘You’ve got to defend at a higher level, and you can’t be scared to take the shot or drive to the basket,’” Vizina said. “She is a phenomenal scorer when she has confidence in herself, and she took the words that I said, and I thought tonight she was a really good defender. We had a number of plays where she was involved, we were getting stops, and that really hasn’t been her specialty, but it became a specialty tonight when we really needed it.”
With Monthei stepping up big in her final season as a Bulldog, it was a main reason why Inland Lakes made history in Cheboygan. When her basketball career ends, it’ll be bittersweet, but she’s been more than happy to ride it out with the teammates she’s grown up playing the game with.
“It’s been a long ride,” Monthei said. “We’ve been playing together since fourth or fifth grade. We were on Mr. (Lewis) Robinson’s team, and we’ve just grown together and gotten so much better. We’ve never really had any problems with each other. It’s just been to get it done and keep going.”
Inland Lakes faces Ishpeming in a 7 p.m. Division 4 quarterfinal at Gladstone on Tuesday, March 17.
Contact sports editor Jared Greenleaf at jgreenleaf@gannett.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter @sportsCDT
This article originally appeared on Cheboygan Daily Tribune: Molly Monthei providing Inland Lakes key minutes in postseason run
Reporting by Jared Greenleaf, Cheboygan Daily Tribune / Cheboygan Daily Tribune
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