FORTVILLE — The pressure is off.
At least, that’s how the Mt. Vernon Marauders are approaching the upcoming Class 4A Decatur Central Regional on Saturday.
No stress. Zero expectations. Just an unranked girls basketball team from Hancock County with a unique opportunity to play spoiler.
The sectional champion Marauders (18-5) are a true dark horse with nothing to lose and everything to gain this weekend once they run onto the David “Doc” Rather Gymnasium floor.
While both top-ranked North Central (24-2) and the Marauders’ regional semifinal opponent, Roncalli (20-4), are the favorites to reach the finals, Mt. Vernon has what head coach Julie Shelton believes is a fighter’s chance.
Built upon hoops chemistry, driven by perseverance and confident in their collective ability, the Marauders tip-off at 1 p.m. against Roncalli, which showcases one of the state’s top-senior offensive threats in Maddie Bischoff (21.2 points per game).
Nothing new for the underdog Marauders despite having won 11 consecutive games, its second sectional title in three years and back-to-back Hoosier Heritage Conference championships.
“That’s why I have some confidence. They’ve been there. Most of these girls two years ago. They’ve played teams like we’re going to play, so I have confidence in that they will at least be able to come out and compete,” Shelton said. “Win, lose or draw, I just hope that they do have the confidence that I think they do to come out and at least play hard and compete like I know that they can.”
Oddly enough, the Marauders enter Saturday with the most regional championships out of the four competing teams with eight. However, none have occurred at the 4A level with the most recent in 3A through both 2012 and 2013.
Roncalli has a pair of 4A regional titles to its credit (2013 and 2016) among its seven all time. North Central, which just dismantled the defending state champion Lawrence North Wildcats by 40 points to win its own sectional, has six and three in 4A.
The North Central Panthers open regional against Brownsburg (14-10) at 10 a.m. with the Bulldogs, a two-time former regional champion, holding the longest stretch without a title, dating back to 1991.
“Once you get to the regional level, and especially in 4A and Indianapolis, those are some of the best teams in the state. But, we’ve tried to play teams like that, not the entire year, but we’ve played some similar to the teams we would have to face,” Shelton said. “This year, we didn’t get to play North Central because of COVID, but typically we do.”
In 2019-20, the Marauders beat North Central, 75-72, during the regular season at home, proving anything is possible, especially when you’re assumed to lost.
“I think, we can just relax and play. At times, that’s why we were tense and couldn’t knock down shots and had some difficulties throughout the sectional because for kids, a lot of times, it’s a lot harder to play when you’re supposed to win and the pressure is on you,” Shelton said.
“I told them to end practice (Thursday), ‘I’m proud of you. We’ve reached our two major goals that we were really focused on this year of winning the conference and the sectional. You’ve done those two things. Now, relax, play as hard as you can and everything else is a bonus.”
In essence, every time the Marauders take the court and play, it’s a win.
Since the season began this past November, and even months prior, adversity has been a common theme for the team.
From lost preseason preparation time due to COVID-19 school closures, the uncertainty of the 2020-21 campaign because of the pandemic to various in-season injuries, illnesses and a near three-week quarantine in December, the Marauders refuse to back down.
“That’s probably what I’m the most proud of this whole year. We’ve had kids in and out. We’ve had kids come back. We’ve had so many different things happen and kids having to play different roles at different times in the year, and they’ve all been extremely willing to do whatever it takes to win,” Shelton said.
“A lot of times we could have made excuses or not been happy with our roles or not come back after a three-week layoff and worked to get back into shape and do what we needed to do. Not come back hard off an injury or not like our role, and not once did anyone question or get upset. They’ve just been phenomenal.”
A genuine investment in each other has been the catalyst for the Marauders, who have six seniors on their roster and nine players that have grow up playing basketball on and off together since the second and third grade.
When tragedy has struck over the course of the past year, including the passing of grandparents and other family members of players and program supporters, the Marauders have been there for one another.
When they fall behind in a game, the same philosophy rises to the surface, and it was evident as the Marauders overcame a double-digit deficit against Pendleton Heights in the Muncie Central Sectional semifinals last week to win 36-32.
They overcame another slow start in the sectional finals this past weekend against rival New Palestine to win 49-28 with defense and familiarity.
“We’re not the most athletic team, but we have 10 players that all have different skills, so when we come together on defense, it makes a great team,” Mt. Vernon junior forward Maddie Swingle said.
The proof is in the numbers with Mt. Vernon averaging 37.3 points surrendered per game while not allowing more than 44 points since December and fewer than 33 points in their past six contests.
The Marauders offense is led by University of Saint Francis commit Lexi Shelton, who is averaging more than 15.0 points per game. Saint Mary-of-the-Woods commit Abby Worley is the primary facilitator with close to 5.0 assists per game and 6-foot senior forward Olivia Yeley (8.9 ppg) gives Mt. Vernon another scoring outlet.
As the season progressed and during the sectional tournament, Swingle, senior Katie Gawrys and junior Shay Shipley have become essential pieces to the Marauders’ success after returning to basketball this year.
Standouts on the girls sectional championship soccer team this fall, all three took short hiatuses from basketball, but they didn’t want to miss out on rejoining the seniors such as Riley Hasseld and Faith Hayes on last time.
“Coming back to basketball, this is the best you could hope for and I knew it was coming, so I’m glad that we delivered on it (at sectional),” Shipley said. “They’re my best friends and they’re what got me back because I played with them since I was so young, and it’s their senior year. I just wanted one more chance to play with them and do what I love with my best friends. It’s all I can ask for.”
Not to say the Marauders aren’t thinking bigger.
“We’ve been waiting for this moment our entire lives, so we were so ready to make a run in the state tournament,” Yeley said.
The Marauders just need to play their game, regardless of the names and teams they made run into on Saturday, including North Central’s loaded lineup with 6-3 senior Meg Newman, an Arizona State commit.
“Defense wins championships. We’ve been told that by our coach since we were second grade, third grade. We’ve lived by that and you can tell now that we’re juniors and seniors that defense wins championships,” Shipley said.
