By Ryan O’Leary
For The Daily Reporter
WHITELAND — During the first week of last season, Mt. Vernon drowned in a storm of 3-pointers in a road loss to Franklin.
The Marauders turned the table in their return trip to Johnson County on Tuesday night, outscoring host Whiteland by 21 points from beyond the arc on the way to a 41-26 victory in the season opener for both teams.
Mt. Vernon hit eight 3s to one for the Warriors.
“Our defensive rotations were really slow tonight,” Whiteland coach Kellie Burgeson said. “I think that we were a step slow just about every single possession, and it really hurt us.”
The first quarter looked very much like an early-season tilt, with both sides struggling to find an offensive rhythm. Whiteland hindered itself with seven turnovers in the first eight minutes but stayed attached by dominating the glass at both ends. The Warriors led 4-3 with two minutes left in the period after a pair of Bryanna Gillock buckets down low before the Marauders used back-to-back 3s from Marissa Miner and Gabby Thomas to take a 9-4 advantage into the second.
Thomas hit another deep ball to put Mt. Vernon up by eight, and two more 3-pointers off the bench from freshman Delani Williams made it an 18-8 game with 2:33 remaining in the half. Whiteland cut the deficit to six before the break with baskets from Sophia Dyer and Marin Koch.
Fouls started plaguing the Marauders in the second quarter, with Reagan Britt and Alaya Baxter each picking up three and Thomas two, but the Warriors — who missed all four of their first-half free throws — were unable to take advantage. Whiteland finished the night 5 of 12 from the line.
A corner 3 from Sukhman Bains — the lone made trey all night for the Warriors — got the home team within 25-18 midway through the third quarter, but Mt. Vernon had an answer for every Whiteland push. A Williams putback sent the visitors into the final period with a 33-22 edge, and a flurry in the fourth sealed it. Zoey Wood and Addison Bucksot hit 3-pointers and Wood added a breakaway layup off of a steal to make it 41-24 with 4:14 remaining.
Mt. Vernon coach Julie Shelton was happy with what she saw from her team, which finished with a plus-11 turnover differential (17-6) despite playing four freshmen and a sophomore.
“Zoey Wood does a great job handling the ball, getting the ball and keeping us in our offense,” Shelton said of her freshman guard. “She’s a really good player, and I thought she controlled their point guard (Bains) pretty well at the point and then handled the ball against them as well really well.”
Wood led all scorers with 12 points for the Marauders, who also got eight apiece from Bucksot and Baxter as well as six from Thomas. Dyer and Gillock led the Warriors in defeat with eight points each, with Gillock adding a game-high eight rebounds and Dyer grabbing seven.
Mt. Vernon will host Franklin on Thursday. Whiteland, which was missing starters Samantha Roadruck and Ella Davis, has a week to prepare for a home game against Beech Grove.
“I think we have made so much more progress as a program than what we showed tonight,” Burgeson said. “The challenge is coming to practice tomorrow and bouncing back and getting back to our hard work ethic and our competitive nature that I think that we have built, that I don’t think that we showed tonight.”
