Monroe City girls take advantage of being able to switch defensive assignments in shutting down Higbee

QUINCY — The roster inside the 17th Rumble on the River program may define each of the Monroe City girls basketball players by their position, but truth be told, the Panthers feel they are essentially positionless.

“We are all alike,” junior guard Ava Potterfield said.

That makes finding a mismatch awfully difficult.

The Panthers used their defensive tenacity and ability to constantly switch assignments to take control of Thursday night’s game against Higbee (Mo.) in the 17th Rumble on the River and put away a 42-28 victory at John Wood Community College’s Student Activity Center.

Monroe City (8-2) held Higbee to one field goal in both the first and fourth quarters and just nine points in the second half overall.

“We talk a lot about the fact we are a lot alike,” Panther coach Adam Rung said. “We can switch a lot of 1 through 5 stuff and not drop off on pressure. The girls are really buying into that. You kind of saw in the second half that we are able to wear teams down defensively.”

It helps to be tenacious, too.

“I liked that we were locked in and had a focus to us,” Pottersifled said. “Even though the second quarter wasn’t the best for us, we fought back in the last two quarters and really made them work to get any looks.”

Meghan and Naaron Hays each hit a 3-pointer in the first quarter as Monroe City bolted to a 10-3 lead, but Higbee scored 16 points in the second quarter to close the gap to 24-19 by halftime.

It’s as close as the Tigers would get. Potterfield hit the third of her three 3-pointers in the third quarter and the defense did the rest, limiting Higbee to only three second-half field goals.

“Our girls just have a tenacity to them,” Rung said. “They really take pride in their defense.”

And in their communication. 

“Everyone working together as teammates helped us,” said Potterfield, who was named the game MVP after scoring 11 points. “We were talking and communicating on offense.”

Audri Youngblood led the Panthers with 12 points as eight players reached the scoring column despite the roster battling some illness and injury.

“We’ve done a good job improving,” Potterfield said. “We’ve had two bad games, but they were teaching points for us. I think we’ll come back from Christmas break ready.”