Northern Star: Emily Montgomery
Averaging 25.8 PPG through 12 games
PORT WING, Wis.- The South Shore girls basketball team has produced some of the best players to ever come out of the state of Wisconsin. Emily Montgomery may soon join that list.
Last season, Montgomery etched herself in South Shore basketball history when she scored her 1,000th point. “It was surreal, honestly. The energy was insane.”
Five years before that moment, South Shore Girls Basketball Coach Ryan Tiberg introduced Montgomery to the sport she would soon grow to love. “I moved here, and he just came up to me, and he was like, ‘You’re playing basketball, right?’, and I’m like, ‘uh, I guess.'” Montgomery laughed.
“To go from basically picking up a basketball for the first time since sixth grade and to turn into the player that she’s become, tons of growth, but she puts in the work.” said Tiberg. “(Emily) spends extra time in the gym shooting, working on her game, plays AAU in the summer, and she’s just grown as a person and as a player.”
“She brings high intensity on both the offensive and defensive levels,” said Kiley Mueller, Montgomery’s teammate and co-captain. “She really steps up as a leader on and off the court.”
It’s no secret that Montgomery is one of the top scorers in the conference (25.8 PPG). However, she sees it as an opportunity to spread the ball around and get her teammates some open looks.
“It kind of drags more defenders towards me during the games, so it really just opens my teammates up.” says Montgomery, who’s averaged over three assists per game over the last three games. “We know that all of the girls can score at any time, so our shooting percentage has definitely gone up from season’s past.”
Montgomery’s season is far from over as the Cardinals chase their first state tournament berth in nine years, but no matter how her time on the court ends, her memories at South Shore will stay with her moving forward. “”It’s definitely different knowing that it’s my last season at this school, but I’m just trying to savor every moment. I want to be remembered as a good role model and a positive teammate.”
The Cardinals are scheduled to host Lac Courte Oreilles on Friday before taking on Bayfield on Monday, January 15.
