Mt. Vernon’s Ellery Minch tries to work around a Mooresville defender on Tuesday, Dec. 21, 2021. (Tom Russo/Daily Reporter)
FORTVILLE — The Mt. Vernon Marauders were looking to bounce back on Tuesday night. Instead, the rim proved unkind.
The Mt. Vernon girls basketball team led visiting Mooresville through the first 4 minutes and 9 seconds, before they unfortunately endured a repeat of Saturday night’s loss at Class 3A Indianapolis Bishop Chatard.
Unable to find an offensive rhythm on the road this weekend, the Marauders lost 51-43 to Chatard, which ended their recent winning streak at three straight.
Once more, the shots refused to fall — this time at home — and the 4A Marauders (7-5) dropped their second consecutive game, 38-33, to the 4A Mooresville Pioneers (7-6).
The Marauders shot 19 percent from the field in the game (10 of 52) and lost the rebounding battle as Mooresville built leads of seven points four times and pulled ahead by nine in the second half to escape a late Mt. Vernon rally.
“We missed from everywhere. We missed inside, outside, free throws. It was just one of those days, but we’ve been having that lately,” Mt. Vernon head coach Julie Shelton said. “Hopefully, we’ll get that turned around.”
Mt. Vernon cut the deficit to 23-21 to open the fourth quarter behind a pair of free throws by Khloe Patterson, but the margin never shrank any lower with the Pioneers converting 8 of 17 foul shots down the stretch to seal their third straight victory.
Shay Shipley led the Marauders with four assists, three steals, five rebounds and 10 points. She converted 5 of 9 free throws. Madison Swingle followed with eight points and seven rebounds. Patterson had five points and shot a perfect 3-for-3 from the foul line. She also contributed five steals, a blocked shot and two assists.
Mt. Vernon’s leading scorer on the season, Ellery Minch, was faced with multiple double- and triple-teams, limiting her to four points. The sophomore standout finished 2 of 4 from the foul line as the Marauders buried 10 of 16 shots from the charity stripe.
“That’s what a lot of teams are going to start doing and leaving other kids wide open. Other kids are going to have to get the confidence to knock down some shots, which will then open Ellery up,” Shelton said.
A 7-0 run by Mooresville in the first quarter quickly erased Mt. Vernon’s 3-0 advantage as the Pioneers pulled ahead 7-3 and later 17-10 in the second quarter after an 8-2 run.
Rachel Harshman led Mooresville with 12 points, scoring 10 in the first half, while adding 10 rebounds. Ally Graber had seven points and 10 rebounds. Sydney Hardy provided eight points. Kayln Bunch had seven points and six rebounds.
The Marauders utilized 25 Mooresville turnovers to keep the game within two or three possessions a majority of the night, but Mt. Vernon’s 21 turnovers and 11 percent shooting in the first half and 26 percent in the second made a comeback difficult.
“It was a much better defensive effort than we had on Saturday. I was proud of that. I thought Khloe had an amazing defensive game. We never quit on the defensive end. On Saturday, we let our shooting, which wasn’t much better than this affect our defense,” Shelton said. “At least tonight, we didn’t let shooting affect defensive effort.”
The Marauders didn’t break double digits for a frame until the fourth when they posted 14. They shot 3 of 20 from 3-point range despite combining for 13 steals as a team.
Last year, the Marauders lost to Mooresville Pioneers, 43-35, and then the program went on a 12-game winning streak to capture the Class 4A Sectional 9 title and reach the regional finals. Shelton is hoping for a repeat in 2021-22.
“I hope. We’ve lost two in a row now, and we’re either going to have to figure it out or we’re not. But, we’re going to keep trying, I can tell you that,” Shelton said.
Up next, the Marauders head to the two-day Twin Lakes Tournament. They open their tournament schedule against 2A No. 13 Pioneer (10-2) on Dec. 28 at 4:30 p.m.
Mooresville 38, Mt. Vernon 33
Mooresville;9;10;4;15; — ;38
Mt. Vernon;6;6;7;14; — ;33
Mt. Vernon (7-5): Shay Shipley 2 5-9 10, Alaina Nugent 1 0-0 3, Khloe Patterson 1 3-3 5, Madison Swingle 4 0-0 8, Ellery Minch 1 2-4 4, Easton Wampler 0 0-0 0, Kanyonrae Kenny 1 0-0 3. Totals: 10 10-16 33.
Mooresville (7-6): Ava Shafer 1 0-2 2, Sydney Hardy 3 1-2 8, Ally Graber 2 3-6 7, Rachel Harshman 5 2-5 12, Kalyn Bunch 2 2-3 7, Addi Vanwanzeele 0 0-0 0, Kaitlyn Strietelmeier 1 0-0 2. Totals: 14 8-18 38.
3-point goals: Mt. Vernon 3 (Shipley 1, Nugent 1, Kenny 1); Mooresville 2 (Hardy 1, Bunch 1).
