FORTVILLE — Julie Shelton wants to put her Mt. Vernon girls basketball team to the test early and often in 2020-21.
The 2017 Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame inductee received her wish with an invitation delivered to the Marauders this month for the 2020 Raymond James Hall of Fame Classic this upcoming December.
“It’s real exciting. I’ve been a part of several Hall of Fame Classics, and I know how exciting it is and important it is to kids, players and the community,” said Shelton, who has coached 19 seasons at Mt. Vernon.
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“I’m extremely excited I get to share one with my daughter and all the girls that have worked so hard in my program for this upcoming year.”
Julie Shelton returned to Mt. Vernon as the girls head coach in 2018 after leaving in 2015 to become an assistant coach for the Butler women’s basketball team.
As a player at Butler in the early 1990s, Shelton had a hall of fame career, setting the program’s career-scoring record with 2,018 points. She also led the Bulldogs in scoring and rebounding for four seasons, which later netted the All-American a place in the Butler Athletic Hall of Fame in 2006.
However, the former 1989 Indiana All-Star can’t but look back fondly on her high school days at Seymour where she graduated in 1989 after establishing nine school records.
Mentored by hall of fame coach Donna Sulllivan, Shelton poured in 1,564 points and grabbed 912 rebounds in her career. It was also the first time she experienced the prestigious Hall of Fame Classic inside the New Castle Chrysler Fieldhouse.
Seymour was a finalist during their HOF Classic appearance in the late 1980s, but as Shelton won’t soon forget, the Owls lost to rival Scottsburg by one point in the championship.
Scottsburg later won its first state title in 1989 after claiming three semistate titles in 1986, ‘88 and ‘89. Seymour won its only semistate championship in 1987.
As a coach, Shelton owns a 313-128 record and won the Hall of Fame Classic once early in her career in 1999-2000. The team placed third in the Marauders’ recent appearance in 2011.
Mt. Vernon also participated in 1986, before Shelton’s tenure began, which makes the Marauders the third girls basketball program to make four or more appearances in the girls’ HOF Classic, joining Bedford North Lawrence (four times) and Rushville (five times).
If Shelton’s HOF Classic pattern holds true, then the Marauders might be due for another trophy with every other appearance equaling a title.
But, Shelton is more concerned about the state tournament where her Marauders have collected six of the program’s 15 sectional championships all time since 2003.
Mt. Vernon has won three regional and two semistate titles since 2005 and were state champions in 2013 at 3A. Since Shelton’s return to Mt. Vernon, the team has won 42 games with eight losses.
“Your perspective of things change the older you get and the more you’ve been involved, so I think the better the competition, the better tournament atmosphere, the more pressure on kids early in the year, the better the outcome and chances are in the postseason,” Shelton said.
The Marauders made winning look easy in 2019-20, climbing the Class 4A state rankings to seventh in the regular-season’s final poll and finished 22-2 after falling to New Palestine 41-32 in the Richmond Sectional.
Despite the postseason setback, the Marauders set a school-record with 21 consecutive victories and clinched the Hoosier Heritage Conference title outright at 7-0.
“The invite says a lot. It definitely wasn’t the ending that we wanted, but we had a lot of big wins and a lot of wins in a row off a 20-6 season the year before. Not sure you can do better, and we did do better until the tournament time,” Shelton said.
With three starters returning in 2020-21, including soon-to-be senior Lexi Shelton, Julie’s daughter, Mt. Vernon will bring plenty of talent to the court when they face 3A Norwell on Dec. 29.
“We have three juniors back, and our sixth man was a junior that will be a senior, so four of our top six are back,” Shelton said. “We just have a few spots to fill in, but we do have a lot of talent coming back.”
Lexi Shelton paced the Marauders with 16.3 points and 6.0 rebounds per game. The upcoming graduations of Sydnee Perry (15.3 ppg) and Tessa Freeman (4.3 ppg, 2.9 assists) will hurt, but with seniors Olivia Yeley, Abby Worley and Riley Hasseld back, the drop off won’t be too steep.
“Obviously, it will be interesting how that all plays out because you do a lot of that in the summer to see who can step up in the games you play in the summer,” Shelton said. “We had a lot of sophomores this year, going to be juniors, that have a chance to play roles.”
Yeley averaged 8.9 ppg and 5.5 rpg. Worley provided 7.9 ppg, 3.2 steals and 4.5 apg as a junior at point guard, while Hasseld, the team’s sixth player, contributed with heavy varsity minutes.
“It kind of depends on how those pieces fall into place, but we have four coming back that played a lot of minutes, and then a lot of possibilities for the other two, three, four spots,” Shelton said.
Class 4A Fishers, which went 23-2 last season while ranked third in the state, is also competing in the HOF Classic. The Tigers are coached by Greenfield-native Lauren Votaw and will play Evansville Memorial that went 22-4 in 2019-20 as the third-ranked team in 3A.
“Those schools that try to play better competition and play in big tournaments and challenge their kids the most, I think have a better chance at postseason success,” Shelton said.
The key is resuming offseason activity and summer games, which remain in question with the current Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. With all high school athletics put on hold this month, players and coaches aren’t able to access school facilities, so they remain in limbo until further notice.
“I think there’s a very good chance that (the pandemic) will (have an impact on basketball), but to me, the good news is it affects everyone. So, everybody is on a fair level. And, when we all get to come back from this, kids will be excited to get back into the gym, coaches will be refreshed,” Shelton said. “Everyone is on the same level. It’s not like X,Y and Z school has been practicing while you haven’t.”
