Monticello basketball off to a hot start in January

The Monticello boys and girls teams went 4-0 in their first contests in 2026.
On January 6 the Buckaroos had two tight battles with the Dolores Bears.
In the girls game Monticello built a 13-7 lead after one quarter but saw the lead disappear with the Bears leading 23-19 at halftime. Monticello led 38-30 after three quarters with the final score favoring Monticello 53-41.
Maron Freestone led the team with 25 points on six made threes. Marlee Mack and Makenna Peterson each had eight points. Annaleigh Nebeker scored two while Shaydin Freestone and Josie Mack both scored one point.
Josie Mack also led the team with 11 rebounds, while Peterson brought down nine rebounds. Josie Mack and Olivia Plemmons each had three assists. Marlee Mack recorded six steals while Maron Freestone had five. Nebeker and Slade each recorded one block.
After getting in foul trouble Maron Freestone sat on the bench for most of the first half coming in for a big three point shot in the final minutes of the first half to cut into Dolores lead. In the second half Freestone had an eruption of shooting.
“A lot of effort throughout the years. I like to shoot during the offseason and just make sure my shot goes in and just keep on shooting. It's just been a lot of work.”
Moving forward Maron said she learned to work with her team
“Team work is really the main thing just having those people and with Makenna being back and just having that speed, it helps a lot and kick and drive and it was just really good. The teamwork really helped us tonight.”
A newcomer to the team Marlee Mack says she’s had to work back into basketball after playing a lot of youth ball but not playing much in high school.
“I feel like I've just been able to get more rhythm with my shot and just dribbling. Had to get back into that because that was definitely like a rough spot for me. But I feel like I've gotten a lot more confidence with it and so that's helped a lot.”
Mack’s six steals were key without fouling as well, which she attributed to Coach Nebeker.
“She’s helped me a lot with giving space to the girls, knowing when to play tight but also giving that space so they can't get around me but then knowing when to jump in to steal. And so just learning to find that balance. I definitely feel like it clicked tonight”
Mack also highlighted the difference in team play with senior Peterson back on the floor.
“We played together, we knew when to take a shot and we just flowed better as a team. I think we can keep that momentum going forward.”
Coach Katie Nebeker described the win as exciting.
“It was so fun to see them. I didn't know how they'd come out at halftime. They were going to go one way or the other and they chose to give some heart and some hustle and I’m just so proud of them”.
After Maron got in foul trouble, Coach Nebeker said she told her she’s got to avoid fouls.
“You’ve got to get down and play some defense." And she's like, "I'll do it." And she did.”
Moving forward Coach Nebeker says she’d like to see her girls reading passes on defense.
“If they could read the passes more, I think they could start picking them off. So, defensively, we got to get stronger at picking off passes going forward. I've got to have girls continue to shoot. I had two girls that started putting their shoulders down and being frustrated. We don't do that, you pull the shoulders back and you stay positive and you keep looking at that basket.”
That same night the boys also earned a tight win over Dolores.
The Monticello boys fell behind 10-9 after one quarter with halftime favoring the bears 14-11. After three quarters Monticello took a 22-21 lead with the final score favoring Monticello 40-31.
Monticello was led in the game by Jackson Keyes scoring 10 points, Kord Young scored seven, Kooper Nielson and Cache Young scored five. Jaeden Camacho and Triston Felix each had four while Brandt Mack scored three and Logan Bowles scored two.
Cache Young led the team with nine rebounds, while Kord Young had seven. Keyes and Nielson each had three assists, while Felix and Nielson also recorded three steals. With Kord Young recording one block.
Key to the win was Tristan Felix’s two steals and four points in the final minutes of the game.
Coach Keyes said he told the team they’ve got to make two to three more plays than the Bears to win.
“He made two big turnovers. Got to the foul line, made some foul shots. He sat most of the third quarter and a little bit of the fourth, but when he got in there, he made plays. But that was true of everybody. Nine kids I played tonight. They all made plays. Brandt Mack made plays, Jaeden Camacho made plays.”
Among those making big plays were Kooper Nielson and Jackson Keyes who were strong defensively even in switches.
“They switched on to Jack a lot because Jack's our biggest guy and he did a great job on th(eir guard), too. We did a good job of staying in front, forcing tough shots. Kooper is the little engine that could. He just doesn't quit. He doesn't have any quit in him. It's fun to coach a kid like that because you can ask him to do whatever you want.”
Nielson said he had a task at hand to try and slow the Bears point of attack.
“That's just what I tried, I knew I wasn't going to score very much offensively. So, I just try to focus all my energy into defense, especially when I'd get frustrated just to take all my anger out on defense.”
Nielson added he felt the team chemistry come through in the game. We've been trying to work on all year and I feel like we're starting to get there which is exciting because we have some good games coming up.”
Senior teammate Jaeden Camacho agreed that teamwork was the key to the game.
“I think it was honestly all around good teamwork today. I think we got better at working as a team and not being selfish on the plays. I think we had good teamwork this game.”
Camacho said the win felt good after a tough stretch in December.
“It feels good. We needed that one after losing like five in a row or something. We needed that one. So, it feels good to finally get a win again.”
The lady Buckaroos opened region play with a 68-19 over Pinnacle on January 9.
In the win Monticello was once again led by Maron Freestone who scored 32 points. Marlee Mack scored 14 while Shaydin Freestone scored six. Nicole Francom and Tessa Slade scored four. Four Bucks scored two points including Allie Carling, Ayslee Whipple, Elise Taylor and Makenna Peterson.
Marlee Mack led the team with 10 rebounds, while Whipple had seven. Peterson led the team with eight assists. Marlee Mack recorded nine steals and Peterson had seven steals.
Senior Nicole Francom described the win as amazing.
“I feel like this was the win we deserved the most. The whole team really did play together. Everyone really played such a vital part. We've never deserved a win more than this one.”
Getting back on the court was a long process for Francom after tearing her ACL and having a rough start in recovery.
“I just put in double time. I was stretching it. I was just trying to rip everything. that I could and honestly it really paid off. I got all my range of motion back and I was able to come back into the season and the first few practices were really rough. I was for sure so out of shape, but I put in a lot of hard work and dedication and I'm starting to get back to where I was. So, it's really good.”
After taking a tough road back to basketball Francom says the rest of the season she’s looking forward to spending time with her teammates.
“I feel like basketball has the best team out of any sport that I've ever played on. I've never met girls that are so kind and absolutely drama-free. It really is. I'm just so happy to spend more time with these girls before I leave. That's the biggest thing to me for this season more than any win.”
Shaydin Freestone continued her solid efforts making an impact in every game with the win over Pinnacle being no exception. Starting with leading an intense team defensive effort.
We switched to a man defense where we're putting a lot of pressure. It has brought an expectation of us to be really fast and to be able to endure games more, which I think is great for all of us and just being able to play that man has benefited us in this season greatly.”
Among Shaydin’s statistical output the most impressive may have been being perfect at the free throw line going four for four.
“I would like to thank my dad for just making me work on my free throws He's like, "It's a free throw shot. You need to make those." So, he's helped me perfect my form. and make sure that I'm calm and collected as I do my free throws and like putting them in like I need to.”
Coach Katie Nebeker noted the fast pace helped the whole team with Maron Freestone scoring 32 points in the win.
“It's just exciting when she can square up and go and attack and she does a lot better when we play a faster game. She excels.”
That faster pace came from a defensive intensity.
“It was really exciting. I asked them to go and we're looking to anticipate like before. We've just been playing behind and now we're looking to anticipate where that pass is going, try to beat it to the pass and attack the basket.”
The boys also earned a win on January 9 in Price. The Bucks took a 7-5 lead after one quarter pushing the lead 18-9. After three quarters Monticello clung to a 20-14 lead and were able to pull away with a 32-22 win.
Monticello was again led by Keyes with 10 points, while Cache Young scored nine and Kord Young had eight. Felix scored three and Seth Taylor had two in the win.
Nielson led the team with eight rebounds while Kord Young had seven. Nielson also led the team with five assists, while Cache Young had three assists. Felix recorded three steals with Kord Young recording two blocks in the win.
After grinding out two tough wins in the week coach Josh Keyes said the key was playing defense.
“The credit goes to the kids because the kids they bought in and they worked their butts off and we had great practices this week and we had two really good road wins against good teams and they weren't pretty, neither one of them, but we grinded them out and hit big shots and got big buckets we need to and big stops and I'm pretty sure we dominated every aspect of the rebounding and so at the end of the day it's to all those kids all nine of them that played tonight and the kids on the bench that didn't play tonight in practice buying in to energy and to effort and to a concept it's just a beautiful thing we watch.”
Among the key defensive plays included Kooper Nielson taking two charges.
“The things that he does, you can't put him on a statline. He's so invaluable. And he has been for his four years here. He's a grinder and those charges, I've never jumped so high. The second one, I was dancing down the sidelines. I'm sure everybody was laughing, but it was so exciting because it was just a big moment.”
Coach Keyes also praised Cache Young’s efforts. Including a very timely and-one bucket that swung the momentum in Monticello’s favor late.
“That ‘and one’ was huge. He defended well, he rebounded well and he's really the emotional team leader out there. When he's not hitting, he's finding other ways to contribute.”
Another huge play included a shot clock beating three by Jackson Keyes in the fourth quarter.
“I got to say, on a dad note, the shot clock three, that was a big moment, too, for us. That separated us a little bit.”
Cache recalled the play in the postgame.
“We were struggling scoring and we went into a timeout and coach Keyes called up a play for me to post up and to try and get some offense going and that's what we did.”
Another key play from Cache included a late assist to Kord Young in the game.
“We play a lot of backyard basketball together because we're cousins and it's kind of just a natural thing, but we have super good chemistry as cousins.”
Cache recalled not being surprised by Jackson’s buzzer beating three.
“After practice he'll practice those all the time. So it was no surprise but by far a super big shot for this game.”
Monticello played against Monument Valley on January 13 with the girls falling to the Cougars 73-36 and the boys of Monticello winning 57-29. Both teams are in Montezuma Creek on Friday January 16 with the games tipping at 5:30 and 7:00 pm.