Red-hot Monett braces for tough Big 8 play

By Jared Lankford [email protected]

Entering the new year with an 8-1 record, the Monett girls basketball team is not content to rest on its laurels.

While excited about the great start to the season, the Lady Cubs players and coaches know that the true tests are coming in the campaign’s second half.

“It helps having five seniors on the floor,” said Josh Kleine, Monett coach. “We have been able to score in bunches and play some youth to get them experience. However, as we get into conference play we know that every game will be a grind. There are no easy games or nights we can take off.”

Monett has a three-headed attack that spearheaded the hot start.

Meredith Merriman and transfer Avery Stokes have given the Lady Cubs a one-two punch of size, scoring and athleticism down low.

“One of our biggest strengths is our unselfishness,” Kleine said. “When Meredith found out that Avery was transferring in, she was excited and didn’t think about losing scoring or minutes. The whole team shares the ball and does what is best for the team. That just helps make them both tough to defend because teams must respect both of them.”

Merriman is averaging 19.1 points and 10.2 rebounds and Stokes is chipping in 10.3 points and 7.7 rebounds per game. Kleine pointed out that when a team has two players averaging nearly a double-double per game, good things tend to happen.

“The girls are working well together,” Kleine said. “When you are not concerned with individual stats and you just want to win, that is when playing team basketball is at its best.”

However, the Lady Cubs are more than just their two interior players.

Kilee Wislon is the other piece to the team’s triple-headed scoring punch, as she is averaging 15 points, 4 steals and 2 rebounds per game.

“Kilee is just a consistent performer,” Kleine said. “She moves the ball around and does those little detail things that don’t always show up on the stat sheet but at the end of the night are major factors in why we won.”

The Lady Cubs have settled into an eight-person rotation.

“We like our current rotation,” Kleine said. “Hannah Parris comes off the bench. She isn’t an offensive threat, but on defense, she is a disrupter. Her size and speed cause other teams to struggle to get into rhythm. She leads our team in tipped passes. Kenzi Waterman is long and athletic and leads the point on our 1-2-2 defense and leads the team in charges taken.”

Kleine emphasized that he was proud of all of his players.

“Everyone knows what we expect of them and the role we want them to play,” Kleine said. “As we push into 2026, we are focused on fine tuning and not major changes.”

The Lady Cubs spent the winter break working on being more consistent on the defensive end and adding some wrinkles to their pressure.

“We know that the toughest part of our schedule is still in front of us,” Kleine said. “We want to be one-day better and one-game better every time we take the floor.”