FORTVILLE — The second quarter proved to be a turning point Tuesday night at Mt. Vernon.
The Marauders tied county rival New Palestine at 13-13 early in the quarter. It was a closely-contested game to that point.
That’s when the Dragons took over. The visitors went on an 11-3 run to end the half and controlled the third quarter, opening a 16-point lead.
The hosts came roaring back in the final minutes of the game but the deficit was too large. The visiting Dragons held on, getting revenge from a regular-season defeat last year with a 46-40 win against the Marauders.
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“It’s a friendly rivalry, but that doesn’t mean we don’t want to win, and they want to kick our butts, too,” New Palestine coach Sarah Gizzi said. “I told the seniors this is possibly your last chance to play them. Can we get some revenge after last year and how they came in and just really took it to us at our own gym? We were able to pull out the victory tonight, which is great.”
Mt. Vernon had gone into New Palestine last year and soundly ended the Dragons’ 9-0 start to the season with a 60-47 road win.
The Dragons got revenge last season, ending Mt. Vernon’s year with a 45-39 win in the sectional championship game. But they wanted payback in the regular season, on the Marauders home floor.
They opened the lead with a huge first half from Leah Seib, who led all scorers with 18 points in the game and added five rebounds and a steal.
Seib scored 15 in the first half on 6-of-7 shooting. She had 10 more points than anyone on the floor at halftime, when her team led 24-16.
“She was incredible,” Gizzi said. “Her first half was one of the best ones she’s had. She’s really been finishing better these last couple of games, hitting some really nice shots and playing with a lot of confidence. She’s huge for us.”
While Seib nearly out-scored the Marauders herself in the opening half, the Marauders top scorer, Lexi Shelton, was being closely guarded by several different Dragons.
Katie Herron was matched up with Shelton. Her size and length made open looks hard to come by. Tatum Biddle and Michaela Jones, the Dragons’ two tough-defending guards, also took turns defending Shelton.
As a team, the Dragons held the Mt. Vernon sophomore to just four points in the game on 2-of-11 shooting.
“We definitely had an inside advantage because they’re not as tall as us,” Seib said. “The guards did a good job of looking down low, especially to me and Katie because we were so much taller and bigger than them. Good job to Tatum and Mic and Katie for guarding Lexi. She’s a good player.”
The Dragons ended up out-rebounding the Marauders 26-17, although Mt. Vernon had more offensive rebounds with seven.
That led to a lot of shots from the hosts. They weren’t falling. While New Palestine shot above 50 percent for the game, making 17-of-31, the Marauders finished 14-of-43 from the floor and 5-of-18 from long range.
“We missed some shots early and then we got very tentative,” Mt. Vernon coach Julie Shelton said. “We were hesitant, didn’t really want to shoot, or thought about it too long. They’re too good defensively — you don’t have time to think about it or your shot’s gone.”
Shots finally started to fall in the fourth quarter as the Marauders pushed for a comeback.
The 16-point deficit was too much to overcome, though. Mt. Vernon hit several threes and cut the lead to single digits, but the Dragons held on in a frantic final minute for the win.
“That’s when you no longer can be tentative and the pressure is kind of off,” Shelton said of the fourth quarter. “You have to just play. For whatever reason, we didn’t play that way the first three quarters. In the fourth we had no choice but to take shots and be aggressive and pick up our intensity. We didn’t have time to think, and that helped us.”
Following Seib for the Dragons was Jordan Reid, who scored 10 points and had a game-high seven rebounds to go with two steals, two assists and a blocked shot.
Sydnee Perry led Mt. Vernon (10-2, 2-1 Hoosier Heritage Conference) with nine points, four rebounds and four steals. Abby Worley was right behind her with eight points.
The win moves New Palestine (11-1, 5-0) into sole possession of first place in the HHC. Like the Marauders did to them last year, the Dragons ended a nine-game win streak for Mt. Vernon.
“We definitely executed what we wanted to do in that second and third quarter,” Gizzi said. “We kind of had that letdown — missed some free throws, some had some mistakes down the stretch. We told the girls they aren’t going away. We had to keep building on that. That’s what we have to work on now. If we’re fortunate enough to build a lead, how are we going to hold on to it?”
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New Palestine 46, Mt. Vernon 40
New Palestine;13;11;11;11;—;46
Mt. Vernon;11;5;5;19;—;40
New Palestine (11-1): Leah Seib 6 6-8 18, Katie Herron 1 0-0 2, Haley Harrison 2 0-0 5, Jordan Reid 4 2-2 10, Megan Jolly 1 3-9 5, Michaela Jones 1 0-0 2, Tatum Biddle 2 0-0 4. Totals: 17 11-20 46.
Mt. Vernon (10-2): Lexi Shelton 2 0-0 4, Sydnee Perry 3 2-2 9, Abby Worley 3 0-0 8, Maddie Swingle 2 0-0 4, Shay Shipley 1 1-2 4, Lindsay Hartl 0 2-2 2, Olivia Yeley 1 0-0 3, Tessa Freeman 2 2-4 6. Totals: 14 7-10 40.
3-point goals: New Palestine 1 (Harrison), Mt. Vernon 5 (Worley 2, Perry, Shipley, Yeley).
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Eastern Hancock’s game Tuesday against Lapel was postponed, leaving Greenfield-Central the only other county team in action.
Shelbyville 57, Greenfield-Central 55 (OT)
The Cougars led by seven after three quarters but couldn’t hold on, eventually falling to host Shelbyville in overtime.
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