Jan 26, 2025

🏀Monarchs earn a pair of 5th place finishes at MCL tournament

Posted Jan 26, 2025 5:28 AM

WAKEENEY – The TMP-Marian Monarchs girls' and boys' basketball teams finished fifth in the 2025 Mid-Continent League with two wins Saturday in WaKeeney.

GIRLS: TMP 49, Russell 41
The TMP Lady Monarchs (6-5) earned a fifth-place finish with a 49-41 win over Russell.

Russell (4-8) rushed out to an unbelievable start, outscoring the Monarchs 17-2 to open the game. The Monarchs answered with a 17-2 run of their own, tying the game at 19 with just under five minutes left in the first half.

Brooke Koenigsman scored eight of her game-high 15 points during the TMP run.

Russell retook the lead in the second quarter and led by seven at halftime, 29-22.

TMP briefly got the lead back in the third quarter when Teagan Gottschalk and Shalee Gottschalk hit back-to-back jumpers, and Koenigsman scored five straight, putting TMP up 33-31. But the Monarch lead was short-lived as Russell went back on top 34-33 with under a minute to play in the third quarter.

Over the final 50 seconds of the third quarter, TMP’s Raegan Allen scored back-to-back field goals, putting TMP up 37-34 at the end of the third quarter, and she added a third straight bucket, giving the Monarchs a 39-34 lead.

A lead they would never relinquish as Shalee Gottschalk and Claire Schippers hit back-to-back three-pointers to add to the lead as the Monarchs went on to the 49-41 victory.

Brooke Koenigsman led all scorers with 15 points. Allen finished with a career-high nine points.

BOYS: TMP 70, Oakley 52
The TMP boys outscored Oakley 22-4 in the second quarter, and Carson Liles and Ty Schmeidler scored a game-high 19 points as the Monarchs (5-6) secured a 5th-place finish at the MCL tournament Saturday in WaKeeney.

TMP’s Will Eck and Ty Schmeidler combined to score 15 of the Monarch's 20 first-quarter points as they held a 20-16 lead through one-quarter of action.

Carson Liles closed out the first quarter with a three-pointer; he added five straight to start the quarter, sparking the Monarchs' 22-4 run in the second quarter and giving them a 42-20 lead at halftime.

In the second half, Oakley (5-8) cut the TMP lead to 15, but the Monarchs extended the lead to as many as 23 on their way to the 70-52 victory.

Liles's 19 points, which include seven rebounds, are a new career high. Schmeidler’s 19 points are also a new season high, and Eck’s nine points match his previous season-high.            

TMP will host Great Bend on Tuesday in a non-league matchup.