For the Daily Reporter
FORTVILLE — The Mt. Vernon Marauders took the floor after an 11-day break and didn’t miss a beat. Using a game-opening 21-6 run, the Marauders were able to comfortably notch their 13th win of the season against the visiting Noblesville Millers, 42-34.
“I thought for the most part we played pretty well,” Marauders coach Julie Shelton said. “There were some bad stretches in there, but we were able to put it away.”
Midway through the second quarter it seemed as if the game would be a romp, as the Marauders built up a 15-point lead. This lead caused the Millers to switch to a full court press, which gave them a route back into the game. At halftime the lead was whittled down to nine, and midway through the third, the lead stood at just six.
“(Noblesville) is a good team,” Shelton said. “We knew they weren’t going to score at that same low pace, so I wasn’t too concerned with the run they had. I liked how we were able to weather those bad stretches in the third quarter and get through it.”
Each time Noblesville got the lead down to six points in the third quarter, Marauders junior Sydnee Perry (10 points) answered with a 3-pointer to push the lead back to nine. And at the start of the fourth quarter Lexi Shelton (12 points, four rebounds) and Abby Worley buried three’s of their own to put the game comfortably out of reach.
With the girl’s basketball season in its final stretch, Julie Shelton is looking for learning experiences wherever she can find them. In this game, she hopes the team is able to learn how to maintain large leads when they find themselves in that situation.
“I’m hoping as we go forward, when we play well enough to build up a lead like that, the girls will be able to keep their foot down and build on it, instead of easing up a bit,” Shelton said.
The Marauders take the floor again on Saturday afternoon as they travel to Shelbyville for a 2:30 p.m. tipoff.
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Mt. Vernon 42, Noblesville 34
NHS;5;9;8;12;-;34
MV;15;8;11;8;-;42
Mt. Vernon (13-4) – Shelton 4 2-4 12, Perry 3 2-2 10, Shipley 2 0-0 5, Freeman 2 0-0 4, Swingle 2 0-0 4, Hartle 1 0-0 3, Worley 1 0-0 3, Yeley 0 1-2 1. Totals: 15 5-8 42.
Noblesville (6-12) – Johnson 4 0-0 11, Knight 3 4-7 11, Wood 2 0-2 4, Miller 1 0-0 3, Etchison 1 0-0 2, Kiser 0 2-2 2, Haley 0 1-2 1. Totals: 11 7-13 34.
3-pointers: Mt. Vernon 7 (Perry, Shelton 2, Hartle, Shipley, Worley 1), Noblesville 5 (Johnson 3, Knight, Miller 1). Rebounds: Mt. Vernon 14 (Hartl, Shelton 4, Swingle 3, Worley 2, Perry 1), Noblesville 9 (Knight 6, Haley, Johnson, Kiser 1).
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