SHELBY – Having a skilled, 5-10 guard is an advantage that any high school girls basketball team would love to have.

That’s exactly what the Montague girls basketball team has in 5-10 sophomore Kendall Osborne, who was a difference maker in the Wildcats’ 48-20 win over Shelby on Friday night.

Osborne led all scorers with 15 points on the night while also adding seven rebounds and four assists.

“It makes it easy,” said Montague head coach Nick Thaler about having Osborne on his team. “It’s remarkable. She’s a sophomore, and super young. She’s playing in the team principles and she’s only going to get better. You don’t see a lot of 5-10 guards in girls basketball on this side of the state.”

Montague’s Emma Dyer (5) defends Shelby’s Kendall Zoulek (24) during Friday’s game. Photo/Andrew Johnson

The Wildcat guard credited practice situations and film studying for helping her get accustomed to the varsity level.

“We do a lot of situational stuff in practice,” Osborne said. “I also watch a lot of film with my dad and it just makes things easier.”

Montague used its defense to set the tone Friday night, finishing with 15 steals and forcing a total of 21 Shelby turnovers.

“That pressure defense gets us out of our offense,” Shelby head coach Sarah Wolting said about the Montague pressure. “My guards have to be able to handle the pressure and I feel like we made the pass just two seconds too late tonight.”

Britta Johnson led the Wildcats with four steals on the night. The defensive pressure wasn’t surprising to Thaler, who noted it’s a team principle.

“We play solid team defense. That’s what we pride ourselves in at Montague,” he said. “Our system is very unique and it’s good for us to buy into that as a team.”

Shelby’s Kendall Zoulek looks to make a move against the Montague defense during Friday’s game. Photo/Andrew Johnson

Montague took a 13-4 lead after the first quarter behind four points each from Osborne and Claire Meacham. 

The Wildcats then outscored Shelby 15-7 in the second quarter to stretch the lead to 28-11 at halftime. Osborne had five additional points in the second quarter to pace the Wildcat offense.

After halftime, the Montague defense flexed its muscle and held the Tigers to three points, stretching the Wildcat lead to 43-14 behind five points from Emma Peterson and four from Osborne.

Montague cruised to the victory despite being outscored 6-5 in the fourth quarter.

Rounding out the Montague leaders were Peterson with 11 points and six rebounds and Meacham and Emma Dyer with six points each.

Shelby was paced by Kendall Zoulek with nine points and six rebounds.

Montague is now 13-3 overall this season and 10-1 in West Michigan Conference play. The Wildcats trail Hart by one game in the conference standings. The Pirates won the first match up by one point and the teams will play again next Thursday.

The Tigers fall to 9-8 overall and 5-6 in conference play.