Monona Grove kept pace in the Badger South in boys basketball with a 67-52 win over Edgewood, remaining tied with Stoughton, who defeated Monroe. Meanwhile, Monona Grove, Beaver Dam, and Monroe won in girls basketball on Friday night, as did Madison East and Middleton with late scores to take home victories.
Monona Grove's win over Edgewood was our Madison Taxi Game of the Week. The Silver Eagles added to their halftime lead, out-pacing the Crusaders and finishing with a 15-point win to stay tied with Stoughton, winners over Monroe earlier on Friday night. Both teams are 8-2 with four games remaining in conference play, and will meet on February 21 to potentially decide the Badger South title. You can hear the game below.
Elsewhere in the Badger South, Fort Atkinson needed overtime to defeat Milton in boys basketball, 58-47. In the Badger North, Waunakee blew out Baraboo 88-34. Lodi beat Poynette 68-48 in Capitol North action, while McFarland got by Big Foot 75-69 in the Rock Valley.
On the girls' side of things in hoops Friday night, Monona Grove pounded Milton 74-41 to stay a game in front of Monroe. The Cheesemakers got a win on Friday night over Edgewood (read more below) 61-48. Stoughton beat Fort Atkinson 49-20, while Oregon topped Watertown 46-38. In the Badger North, Beaver Dam clinched a 10th straight conference title with a win over Reedsburg, while Waunakee and Portage also got wins. Big 8 winners were Janesville Parker, Middleton, Madison East, and Verona, while Lake Mills won their first-ever conference title in girls basketball on Friday night.
Monroe 61, Edgewood 48 - Girls Basketball
Monroe's impressive defensive efforts continued for yet another game, as the Cheesemakers battered the Edgewood Crusaders on Friday night 61-48.
In the first half, Monroe jumped out to a double-digit lead in the first four minutes and kept it that way for the remainder of the game. Megan Benzschawel, Emily Benzschawel, and Sydney Hilliard, the Cheesemakers' three leading scorers on the season, combined for 28 of Monroe's 33 first-half points while limiting Edgewood to 15 points by halftime.
Edgewood put together a run in the second half, knocking what was a 22-point lead back down to 13, but Sydney Hilliard took over, scoring 12 of her game-high 21 points in a 16-4 run to pull the Cheesemakers past the Crusaders. Edgewood hit six second-half three-pointers to bring the margin closer near the end, but it was too little, too late, as Monroe won easily on Friday night in Monroe.
One of the highlights of the game came with under a minute to play, when junior Laurel Houston got her first points of the season on a pass in from Chloe Bunker.
Coach Sam Mathiason rested his starters for a good portion of the second half in advance of two more games in the next three days for Monroe, getting his bench some run in a blowout victory.
Edgewood got 16 points from Baluck Deang and 10 from Sarah Lazar, and Amber Grosse hit three second-half three-point shots for nine points, but could never get closer than 13 after Monroe opened up a big lead early in the first half, eventually reaching 22 points.
Monroe was led by Hilliard with 21 points, while Megan Benzschawel had 16 and Emily Benzschawel added 11.
MONROE - 33|28=61
EDGEWOOD - 15|33=48