Minch-led Marauders move on to sectional title game

FORTVILLE — In a game where Mt. Vernon showed the sluggishness of not playing since Jan. 27, sophomore Ellery Minch was able to knock off the rust — and knock down a lot of shots.

A second-quarter offensive surge from the 6-2 Minch led the defending tournament champion Marauders to a 51-32 victory over Anderson in a Class 4A Sectional 9 semi-final game Saturday at Mt. Vernon High School.

Mt. Vernon (16-8) will play in tonight’s 7 p.m. championship game against Pendleton Heights (19-5), which picked up a 66-46 win over New Palestine (13-11) on Saturday.

The Marauders are the defending sectional champions. Pendleton Heights will be looking for its first title since 2011.

Due to inclement weather, semi-final games originally scheduled for Friday were played Saturday, moving the title game to tonight.

Mt. Vernon had beaten Anderson 58-21 in a regular-season game Dec. 7, but found itself down 14-12 with five minutes left until halftime.

That’s when Minch took over.

She hit her final five shots of the quarter, leading a 16-1 half-ending Marauder run. She had 20 of her game-high 30 points in the first half.

Minch had 14 of her team’s 18 second-quarter points.

For good measure, Minch made it six in a row, hitting her first shot, a 3-pointer, to start the second half, building the lead to 31-15.

“She’s a great player and a good scorer,” Mt. Vernon coach Julie Shelton said. “She did a good job after missing a couple of 3s to get inside and get a couple of free throws. Then, her 3s started to fall. She’s been a very good player for us and our top scorer all year.”

Mt. Vernon’s lead grew to 24, 41-17 with 3:45 left in the third quarter, before the Indians knocked it down to 14, 44-30 with just under five minutes remaining in the game.

The Marauders got off to a tough start. They missed their first six shots and hit just one of their first 10 attempts.

Tied 6-6 after Anderson’s Jacelyn Starks hit her second 3-pointer of the game. Minch and Madison Swingle, on an offensive rebound, scored to end the first period to give Mt. Vernon a 10-6 lead.

The Marauders shot just 20 percent (3-for-15) in the first eight minutes.

“Offensively, we got off to a very slow start,” Shelton said. “I think we missed our first (six) shots, but we also hadn’t played in nine days and I think that’s hard. I think that’s what the first quarter was about. We practiced every day, but we needed a game.”

The win was Mt. Vernon’s third in a row and sixth in its last seven. Its last game prior to Saturday was a 54-21 Jan. 27 win over Delta.

Shelton said she saw a lot of rust on Saturday and a lot of things that need to be worked on prior to tonight’s title game against the Arabians.

“We have to work on some defensive, and rebounding issues and continue to work on us,” Shelton added.

Following Minch, Swingle scored eight points. Shay Shipley scored seven.

Anderson was led by Starks with 15 points. Makhile McWilliams scored seven.

Tonight’s title game will be the second meeting of the year between the two Hoosier Heritage Conference rivals. Pendleton Heights won the regular-season battle 47-36 on Dec. 4 at Mt. Vernon.

The teams finished 1-2 in the HHC. The Arabians won the league with a 7-0 mark. The Marauders were 6-1.

Mt. Vernon 51, Anderson 32

Mt. Vernon;10;18;14;9;—;51

Anderson;6;9;7;10;—;32

Mt. Vernon (16-8): Alaina Nugent 0 0-0 0, Shay Shipley 2 2-2 7, Ellery Minch 12 2-3 30, Easton Wampler 0 0-0 0, Madison Swingle 4 0-0 8, Khloe Patterson 0 3-4 3, Kaitlyn Laffey 0 0-0 0, Kanyonrae Kenny 1 0-0 3, Savannah Jouppi 0 0-0 0, Addison Bucksot 0 0-0 0, Riley Britt 0 0-0 0. Totals: 19 7-9 51.

Anderson (9-15): Koral Wheeler 1 0-0 2, Talaysha Simonds 0 0-0 0, Zoe Allen 0 0-0 0, Jacelyn Starks 4 3-6 15, Payton Sargent 0 2-2 2, Makhile McWilliams 3 1-1 7, Kennedy Brown 1 0-0 3, Gracie Hallgarth 1 0-0 3. Totals: 10 6-9 32.

3-point goals: Mt. Vernon 6 (Minch 4, Shipley, Kenny); Anderson 6 (Starks 4, Brown, Hallgarth)