PENDLETON — The three-time defending sectional champions endured a poor perimeter-shooting first half, and an upset-minded opponent to move on to the semifinal round of the Pendleton Heights Sectional.
Mt. Vernon (11-13) had a 13-0 second-half run — keyed by made 3-pointers — and went on to defeat Anderson (9-14) 48-42 in a quarterfinal round matchup of the Pendleton Heights Sectional Tuesday.
The Marauders have won eight consecutive sectional tournament games and cut down the nets in Class 4A Sectional 9 in 2021, 2022 and 2023.
On Tuesday, Anderson, a team the Marauders had beaten 34-25 in early December, built a six-point third-quarter lead before the Marauders rallied for a fourth straight victory and fifth in their last six games.
“That’s what I expected,” Mt. Vernon head coach Julie Shelton said of Tuesday’s battle with Anderson. “It was a struggle at their place (in December) … And, it doesn’t help when you start off and miss every single shot. It gets in your head a little bit.
“It’s a confidence thing. We just have to do a better job of not letting our offense dictate our defense. It needs to be vice versa. A lot of times, if we’re missing shots, we can’t focus like we should on defense. We’ve got to get better at that.”
Mt. Vernon missed all 11 of its first-half 3-point field goal attempts and shot just 26.9 percent overall (7-for-26) in the first two quarters.
Fortunately for the Marauders, Ellery Minch was able to avoid the first-half, cold-shooting bug.
Mt. Vernon’s 6-foot, 3-inch, Indiana All-Star candidate headed to DePaul University next year provided the majority of the Marauders first-half offense.
She had 15 of the team’s 17 points. She was 6 of 11 from the field and 3 of 3 at the free-throw line. The rest of the team struggled, hitting 1 of 15 shot attempts.
After the struggles from distance in the first half, Mt. Vernon made 3 of 7 from long range in the third quarter, including their last two.
Mt. Vernon trailed 28-22 with four minutes left in the third and were down 29-24 with 1:41 left when it went on a 13-0 run.
Minch started it with a pair of free throws. A baseline 3-pointer from Easton Wampler, her first make it eight long-range tries, tied it 29-29. Frosh Gabby Thomas drilled a 3 with 27 seconds left in the period.
Minch scored the first bucket of the fourth quarter and Thomas added her second trey of the night for a 37-29 Marauder advantage with 6:35 left in the game.
“I told the girls in the locker room before our halftime talk that we just need to focus on our perimeter defense,” Minch said. “We’re good shooters. We shoot in practice and those shots go in for our shooters like Easton and Gabby and [Kanyonrae Kenny]. Just keep shooting and keep confidence in your shot, they’ll start to fall.”
A Minch bucket gave Mt. Vernon a nine-point advantage, 41-32, with 4:23 to go, but Anderson didn’t fold.
The Indians went on a 6-0 run, all at the free-throw line, to cut the Marauders lead to 41-38 with 2:31 to go.
Wampler answered with another big 3-pointer to bump the lead back to six, and though the Marauders missed six of 10 at the free-throw line in the final 65 seconds, Anderson wasn’t able to take advantage.
After the made Wampler trey, Anderson could not get any closer than four points.
Minch led all scorers with 25 points. She was 10 of 17 from the field and 5 of 5 at the free-throw line. She also had eight rebounds. Kenny had nine points and Wampler and Thomas each had seven.
Reagan Britt provided a spark off the bench. She didn’t score, but had a team-high nine rebounds, including eight offensive caroms. Mt. Vernon out-rebounded Anderson 36-29 and had 17 offensive boards.
“She plays so hard and she is our aggressiveness,” Shelton added on Britt. “She did a super job on the boards.”
Jacelyn Starks led Anderson with 18 points. Gabby Douglass had 10.
Mt. Vernon will play Richmond (11-11), another team it has beaten in the regular season (53-21 at Mt. Vernon on Nov. 11) in the first of two semifinal games 6 p.m. Friday.
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Mt. Vernon 48, Anderson 42
Anderson;9;10;10;13;—;42
Mt. Vernon;11;6;15;16;—;48
Anderson (9-14): Ariah Scott 4 0-0 8, Kennedy Brown 2 2-3 8, Jacelyn Starks 6 0-2 14, Gabby Douglass 1 8-8 10, Cambre’Anna Austin 0 1-2 1, Jamiya Foster 0 1-2 1, Talaysha Simonds 0 0-0 0, Janayah Warren 0 0-0 0, Emma Wilson 0 0-0 0. Totals: 13 12-17 42.
Mt. Vernon (11-13): Easton Wampler 2 1-4 7, Kaitlyn Laffey 0 0-0 0, Ellery Minch 10 5-5 25, Gabby Thomas 2 1-2 7, Kanyonrae Kenny 3 2-2 9, Reagan Britt 0 0-2 0. Totals: 17 9-15 48.
3-point goals: Anderson 4 (Starks 2, Brown 2). Mt. Vernon 5 (Thomas 2, Wampler 2, Kenny).
