Keota girls season ends at No. 3 Montezuma

Keota High School's girls basketball season ended last Friday with a 66-22 loss to fellow South Iowa Cedar League member No. 3 Montezuma.

Montezuma advanced to the Class 1A state tournament with a 45-26 win over another SICL team, Sigourney.

Keota had won four games in a row before playing Montezuma and finished with a 10-13 record.

Jill Schulte scored 10 points in the loss while Paige Thompson had six, Addison Sprouse four and Addison Swanson two. Thompson had seven rebounds and Swanson four. Sprouse had two assists.

'Montezuma came out firing on cylinders, playing like the ranked team they are,” Keota coach Jeff Sprouse said. 'They took us out of what we wanted to do. Hats off to them. We finally got our feet under us in the third quarter, but at that point the game was out of reach.”

The third quarter was a battle as Keota scored 15 of its 22 points in the frame.

'Montezuma worked very hard to take Addison (Sprouse) away, not letting her get any clean looks,” Couch Sprouse said. 'Jill stepped up in the third quarter with three 3-point baskets. I am very proud of this team and especially the seniors for their attitude and effort. Jill, Brianna (Duwa) and Addison (Sprouse) could have really given up for all the challenges they faced the past four years. Paige was great coming in the last half of the season last year. These four worked each day to make themselves and the team better and it showed with our record.”