FORTVILLE —As healthy as the team has been since early December, Mt. Vernon’s girls basketball team is trying to put together a late-season surge in hopes of being in the best of form for the postseason.
On Tuesday against Hoosier Heritage Conference opponent New Castle, Mt. Vernon’s defense stifled the Trojans in a 54-19 victory at Mt. Vernon High School.
The Marauders have won five of their last seven, with one of the losses a down-to-the-wire 41-37 effort against one of the state’s better Class 4A programs in Mooresville. The other loss was to No. 18 Noblesville.
Mt. Vernon lost five straight in December with key players out of the lineup. Without a full varsity roster, the Marauders went 1-5.
The win over New Castle improved the team’s record to a deceiving 9-13 and 3-3 in HHC play.
“I feel like now is like we were about the first five games of the year,” Mt. Vernon head coach Julie Shelton said. “We may not win them, but we’re going to compete and have a chance. We didn’t beat Westfield or Warren, but like Mooresville, we were right in those games early in the year.
“I feel like we’re back to where people can beat us, but we have a chance to beat anybody depending on the night.”
Against the Trojans, Mt. Vernon scored the game’s first 13 points. Freshman Gabby Thomas, who has gone from junior varsity player to varsity starter during the transition of players in and out of the lineup, hit a pair of first-quarter treys during the run. Junior guard Kanyonrae Kenny had a pair of buckets in transition off defensive rebounds the latter gave the Marauders a 13-0 advantage with 2:10 left in the quarter.
“If we didn’t have people out, Gabby would probably still be on the JV,” Shelton said. “She’s been huge for us, coming in and being another scorer and just a competitor. [The injuries] have given a lot of them more minutes and more confidence.”
New Castle’s first points came on a 3-pointer from guard Emma Hart with just under two minutes remaining in the first quarter.
The Marauders led 19-3 at the first break and outscored the Trojans 18-0 in the third quarter. New Castle’s first second-half points came on a pair of Anna Tyner free throws with 6:11 remaining in the game. The first of only two second-half field goals came on a Hart bucket with three minutes remaining.
“I thought we focused better defensively on trying to contain and talk and know where Hart was,” Shelton said. “We lost her here and there, but did a better job of doing that. Defensively, I thought we rotated well and switched as we needed to.
“We pushed the ball a little better than we have trying to get easier baskets in transition. Those are probably the things we did better. At times we settle and don’t have as good as ball movement as we could, but overall, pretty happy.”
Senior standout and DePaul-signee Ellery Minch, who missed a number of games after a Dec. 12 injury at New Palestine, led all scorers with 19 points.
Thomas had a strong night with 13 and Kenny added nine. Eight of the 10 Mt. Vernon players that played scored.
“Even having Ellery out six or seven games made everybody else try to have to score,” Shelton said. “Even if we didn’t win some of those, K-rae, and Easton [Wampler] and Gabby had to look to score which has helped us a lot.”
Hart led New Castle with 12 points.
Mt. Vernon finishes its regular season Thursday with a home game against Delta. The Marauders open postseason play at the Pendleton Heights Sectional Tuesday, Jan. 30 against Anderson.
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Mt. Vernon 54, New Castle 19
New Castle;3;9;0;7;—;19
Mt. Vernon;19;11;18;6;—;54
New Castle (2-19, 0-7): Morley Blessinger 0 0-0 0, Alana Orr 1 0-0 3, Mallory Owens 0 0-0 0, Emma Hart 4 2-3 12, Anna Tyner 0 4-4 4, Kaidyn Minyard 0 0-0 0, Zarah Coulibaly 0 0-0 0, Devyn Ayers 0 0-0 0, Peyton Blessinger 0 0-0 0, Macie Morehouse 0 0-0 0, Jaylee Bush 0 0-0 0. Totals: 5 6-7 19.
Mt. Vernon (9-13, 3-3): Kaitlyn Laffey 1 3-4 5, Easton Wampler 0 2-4 2, Ellery Minch 7 3-4 19, Gabby Thomas 4 2-2 13, Kanyonrae Kenny 4 1-6 9, Reagan Britt 0 1-2 1, Addison Bucksot 1 1-2 3, Marissa Miner 0 0-0 0, Katelyn Hawkins 0 0-0 0, Aya Renforth 1 0-0 2. Totals: 18 13-24 54.
3-point goals: New Castle 3 (Hart 2, Orr). Mt. Vernon 5 (Thomas 3, Minch 2).
