FORTVILLE — When the final buzzer sounded and the Mt. Vernon Marauders officially became sectional champions, the celebration on court didn’t last long. At least not right away.
Like any other game, the Marauders girls basketball players left the court shortly after the game and went back to the locker room. They forgot the little detail of a trophy presentation still to come, and a whole bunch of celebrating to follow.
This whole experience is new to them.
From practice at the regional site to a team dinner they didn’t have to pay for, from cheerleaders making the team a huge goodie-basket to sectional shirts being printed, everything is kind of uncharted territory for the 2018 Sectional 9 champions right now.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]
It’s been a fun week filled with new experiences as they prepare for regional basketball.
“It’s a great feeling, and especially with this group, because none of them have really had this experience before. I think that was even evident when after we won the sectional, they ran back to the locker room instead of staying out,” Mt. Vernon coach Julie Shelton said. “Just some of the things that have happened in the last few days, it’s just been fun for me because it’s a new experience for all of them. One of them said, ‘Man, this kind of feels like we’re VIPs.’ It’s fun just to see them get to experience what winning is.”
At this point in the season, all that matters is having the opportunity to keep playing.
It’s win or go home, and by sending New Palestine home in the sectional championship game, the Marauders got to spend at least one more week together as a team.
“It’s an incredible experience, honestly, just to be here with the team,” Lindsay Hartl, Mt. Vernon’s lone senior, said. “Having one more week, giving it all we’ve got.”
That’s all they can ask for. Hard work, determination, and a lot of focus on defense got them here.
A team of underdogs, which wasn’t expected to win 20 games, which wasn’t expected by outsiders to compete for a sectional title, let alone win it, now has a regional date with a state power, Ben Davis, on Saturday at Decatur Central in the second game of the day, tipping off at approximately Noon.
Growing together
Coming in to this season, there was one thing that could definitively be said of the Marauders.
They were a young group. The 10-player varsity roster includes one senior, two juniors, five sophomores and two freshmen.
But while the Marauders might have come into this season fairly inexperienced in high school varsity basketball, they’ve known one another for a long time and have shared the court together since they were young.
“I think it really comes down to the fact that we’ve been together since we were probably 8 years old, with Derek Shelton in our travel AAU team,” sophomore Olivia Yeley said of Julie Shelton’s husband, who also has had a successful career as a basketball coach. “We just kind of developed this strong bond over the years, and I don’t think anybody can really take that away from us. The transition from Derek to Julie was just so easy.”
The two juniors of the bunch, Tessa Freeman and Sydnee Perry, have been best friends for a long time, too, bringing that bond to the court and adding to the team’s chemistry.
“It’s amazing for me. Ever since I was like fifth grade, fourth grade, I’ve been playing with these girls,” Freeman said. “Sydnee Perry’s been my best friend since we were in kindergarten. It’s just an amazing feeling, just to be here with them.”
One of the strengths of this team is certainly its chemistry. As they grew up, they were able to not only play together, but they had the opportunity to watch the Mt. Vernon teams of their youth experience a lot of success under Julie Shelton.
That gave this group a desire to achieve the same kinds of things, something they took the first step toward last weekend with a sectional championship.
“They have great team chemistry, and they have watched some of my older groups win sectionals, regionals, semistates when they were playing together on a travel team when they were younger,” Shelton said. “It’s been a goal for this group. I think that’s a big part of it, that they want to get there, so they were very willing to listen and do what I asked to get them there.”
This group of Marauders players has literally grown up around one another, both on and off the basketball court.
They are friends off the court. They are unselfish on the court.
They’ve had to mature to reach this level, about to embark on a regional challenge.
“It’s pretty crazy to see all these young kids grow up from being little freshman and sophomores to being mature adults on the floor,” Hartl said. “They know basketball, play smart basketball. They really have matured that way. To become successful, we need to mature on the floor.”
Learning curve
There were some clear growing pains this season.
Coming into the year, Shelton targeted Christmas as a date that would give her a better indication of what type of team she had.
She anticipated some stumbles in the early season. A second-game test against Warren Central, currently ranked No. 2 in the state, was one.
Did she think she had a potential sectional champion right from the start? Not necessarily. As a coach, she expects her team to win every time they take the court, but being realistic, she knew it wouldn’t be an easy task to accomplish with such a young team.
“I hoped that it would be a possibility,” Shelton said. “As a coach you always think there’s a chance, and you hope that you can get to that point, but did I come into the season thinking that? No. I thought it would be a long shot. By Christmas, I thought we had a better shot, just watching some of the wins. We beat Westfield, we beat East Central, I see them getting better and more confident. Then I thought, yes, there’s a chance.”
Out of Mt. Vernon’s five losses this season, three came to teams ranked in the Top 10 currently. New Palestine was another, and a conference loss to New Castle was the final defeat.
One particular stretch was especially grueling for the team. It served as a huge light-bulb moment. In mid-December, the Marauders saw New Palestine, North Central and Crown Point in a four-game stretch.
The Dragons went 21-3 this season. North Central went 19-7 and finished the season ranked No. 7. Crown Point has yet to lose this year, sitting at 26-0 and ranked No. 4.
Mt. Vernon lost all three of those games. But it wasn’t about the wins or losses. Those games defined where this Marauders team was heading moving forward.
“I think it was a great learning experience in a time that was going to be make-or-break. I kind of knew that going into the season,” Shelton said. “I knew we would struggle during that stretch, and how we responded to that stretch was whether we were going to be able to compete and possibly win a sectional, or whether we were a year away. They really took those three losses hard and saw what Top 10 teams in the state look like. They realized they weren’t that far away if they could clean some stuff up, and they responded very well to that. I think that stretch is what got us to where we are.”
The losses to top teams showed the Marauders where they needed to improve and gave them a big boost of confidence in themselves moving forward.
Since Dec. 28, the tournament at which they lost to Crown Point, Mt. Vernon has won nine of its last 10 games. To say they responded well to that defeat is probably an understatement.
“I think Warren and North Central, especially those two games, just really pushed us as a team to see what our weaknesses are and to see that if we go in scared, we’re not going to do anything,” Freeman said. “We have to be fearless. That’s our word, now. Fearless.”
The next test
The next step won’t be an easy one, as Ben Davis is on par with the teams that have defeated the Marauders this season.
If Mt. Vernon gets past the Giants, it’s another huge test Saturday night, with either Lawrence North or Mooresville awaiting.
The Marauders feel good, though. They’ve developed a quiet confidence this season, which was on full display in the sectional championship game against New Palestine. They are calm and believe in themselves.
They showed off their fearlessness, and they expect to do the same against Ben Davis.
“Coach always says that we have to have pride and confidence in ourselves and the name on the front of our jersey,” Yeley said. “I guess we’re just really trying to stay humble and not get too ahead of ourselves. We’re really trying to just focus on defense and just staying calm on the court.”
Defense is one of the keys to the game. Another is simply taking control of the basketball. The Giants like to press regularly, and average 16 steals per game this year.
It will be a challenge for the Marauders guards. But Freeman and Abby Worley, especially, were cool and collected under pressure in the final minutes against New Palestine. They rose to the challenge and combined for nine clutch free throws to put the Dragons away.
“The two keys as far as I’m concerned are we’ve got to keep the score lower, got to control the basketball, and cannot let them get a lot of easy transition points off of turnovers or off of rebounds,” Shelton said. “I think our defense can give them a little bit of trouble if we can keep it to more of a half-court game. But they are an unbelievably athletic, quick team, and if they get us up and down, get us turning the ball over on their pressure, it could be a long day.”
The Marauders have thrived on defense all season. It’s what Shelton focuses on as a coach.
A strong, tenacious, aggressive defense has gotten Mt. Vernon to 20 wins and a sectional championship. They aren’t about to change that now.
“We have worked on being calm and collected throughout practice, but defense is our main key,” Hartl said. “We’ve got to head on the ball, move, talk. We have to have that to be able to keep up with Ben Davis.”
As has been the case much of the season, the Marauders come into the regional as underdogs. They weren’t supposed to win 20 games, and they weren’t supposed to win a sectional championship already.
They don’t mind that label one bit. They embrace it, and they are ready to walk into the Decatur Central gym Saturday as underdogs and show Ben Davis exactly why and how they got to this point.
“I think it makes us more excited. We just love it,” Freeman said. “We can prove people wrong. They see us, they don’t think we’re going to win. So we want to win.”
“We’re coming into it fearless,” Hartl said.
[sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”Regional schedule” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
At Decatur Central
Saturday
10 a.m. – Lawrence North (19-6) vs. Mooresville (17-9)
12 p.m. – Mt. Vernon (20-5) vs. Ben Davis (16-8)
8 p.m. – Championship game
Regional breakdown
Teams: Lawrence North Wildcats, Ben Davis Giants, Mt. Vernon Marauders, Mooresville Pioneers
Sagarin ratings: Lawrence North 98.57 (No. 6 in 4A), Ben Davis 94.04 (No. 11), Mt.
Vernon 85.1 (No. 24), Mooresville 83.48 (No. 29)
Favorites: Lawrence North
Darkhorses: Mt. Vernon
Outlook: While Lawrence North seems like the favorite, this is a more balanced regional than it may seem. Two sectional favorites – Lawrence North and Ben Davis – expected to be here. Mt. Vernon ousted 21-win New Palestine to make it. Mooresville wasn’t supposed to be here, topping heavy favorite Brownsburg in the sectional championship game to advance. The Pioneers are hot, riding a five-game win streak. The Marauders boast the strongest defense of the bunch, allowing just 40 points per game, but match up with the best offense in the regional, the Giants, who score just shy of 60 per game.
This sectional likely comes down to big-game experience – the Wildcats have a ton, with a 31-point win against New Palestine and wins against several Top 10 teams, including North Central and Center Grove. Lawrence North also beat Ben Davis head-to-head, 58-48, this season. Mooresville has a tall task in trying to take down the Wildcats, but they are fresh off a win against a Top 10 team they were heavy underdogs against. Finally, you can’t count out the Marauders. If the defense continues to play like it did in a sectional-final win against New Palestine, Mt. Vernon could find itself in Saturday’s 8 p.m. game. With a state championship-winning coach, a ton of confidence and a tenacious defense, Mt. Vernon could topple the Giants and give itself a chance at semistate.
[sc:pullout-text-end][sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”If you go” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
What: Girls basketball regional
Where: Decatur Central High School
When: 10 a.m., 12 p.m., 8 p.m. Saturday
Cost: $7 per session, $10 for day
[sc:pullout-text-end]