Lady Cougars Win Tony Lenzini Tourney
By David Sharp
Monroe City (11-5) got off to a good start in their January 24, 2026 Tony Lenzini Tournament girl’s championship game. The Lady Panthers did their best to avenge a December 12, 2025 loss in the girls’ championship game of the Monroe City Tournament.
Monroe City led 10-7 after the first quarter and 17-16 at halftime. Highland made halftime adjustments and outscored the Lady Panthers 13-7 in the third quarter for a 29- 24 lead.
Highland won going away, closing on a 20-2 run to a 49-26 win. Highland (17-3) won their third major area tournament girls’ championship in as many tries. Addy Abell scored a game high 18 Highland points.
Keera Rothweiler was in double figures with 13 points. Malia Thomas scored six and Ella Vaughn added four points to the winning total. “We struggled in the first half really bad,” Highland coach Ashton Jaco said.
“They had a really good game plan going in,” Coach Jaco said. “Turnovers, sloppy, struggled to score.” Monroe City led 9-2 at one point in the first quarter. “They came out really ready. I think we were ready, we were just a step behind.”
“We just gutted it out. We defended,” Ashton Jaco said. “Addy (Abell was in foul trouble the first half. That really hurt us. We did a lot better job of getting to our third and fourth options in the second half.”
“Having Addy (Abell) out there in the second half was huge. They were keying on Keera (Rothweiler). Addy knocked some shots down. We were more locked into our game plan in the second half. We weren’t a step behind. We rebounded. We made some tough shots.”
“We were able to just distance ourselves a bit in the second half. We talked about adversity at halftime. It was coming, and we definitely faced adversity in the first half. Our response was not great. We know how we are supposed to respond, and are we doing that?”
“It wasn’t a huge x and o talk. It was more of a we know what we need to take care of. It’s going to be hard. And it’s going to continue to be hard. Teams know your stuff. They will take away your first and second options.”
“You stick with it and you defend,” Ashton Jaco said. “And you keep
