Mt. Vernon’s Ellery Minch passes the ball during their game against Greenfield-Central on Friday, Jan. 21, 2022.
Tom Russo | Daily Reporter
FORTVILLE — A year ago, Mt. Vernon got off to a slow start, but by the end of the 2021-22 season it was celebrating a second straight sectional championship.
Coach Julie Shelton believes this year’s club may have to go that route to achieve similar success.
Last year’s club went 17-9 overall — five losses coming in December — and was runner-up in the Hoosier Heritage Conference, boasting an impressive 6-1 mark.
Mt. Vernon went on an 8-2 stretch late in the season, and avenged the one league loss in the sectional title game by defeating HHC champs Pendleton Heights.
Again, graduation losses will be a major factor.
Gone from last year’s team are three seniors, all competing in NCAA Division I athletics. Shay Shipley (7.7 points, 4.2 assists) and Maddie Swingle (9.2 points, 6.3 rebounds, 2.7 assists) were the team’s primary ball-handlers last year and two of the most consistent scorers. Shipley, at Northern Kentucky, and Swingle, at Cincinnati, are both in the midst of wrapping up their initial college soccer seasons.
Alaina Nugent (3.9 points, 1.0 assists) is another graduated starter, now playing golf at Ohio University.
The Marauders did lose some key parts, but return their top scorer and rebounder.
Junior Ellery Minch averaged 17.5 points and 4.0 rebounds. Senior Khloe Patterson averaged 7.1 rebounds and 5.2 points.
Junior Easton Wampler showed some scoring promise late in the postseason, too. She averaged 1.3 points per game, but had a 10-point performance in last year’s regional semifinal matchup against Ben Davis.
Shelton will rely on her three key returnees, but they’ll need to increase their roles – much like how Minch, Shipley and Swingle did the year before.
“Ellery (is a key player) especially with her scoring,” Shelton said. “Easton and Khloe got a lot of experience, but were definitely not key people, as far as scoring (last year). They are going to have to step up in that area and hopefully be a No. 2 and No. 3 scorer and contributor. They were more of a No. 4 and No. 5 last year. They’re going to have to step it up.”
“It may take a little bit but both are capable,” Shelton added, noting she hasn’t had as much time with them as she has with Minch. Wampler (volleyball) and Patterson (soccer) are fall sports athletes, too. Additionally, Shelton has missed practice time due to injuries suffered in an automobile accident.
Along with the three most veteran players, Shelton will look for increased roles from newcomers and players that saw limited varsity action last year.
The biggest need will be in finding a consistent ball-handling guard. Shelton said, early on, that duty may go to the most experience player in Minch, but she has seen progression and hard work out of sophomore guard Kanyonrae Kenny and junior Savannah Jouppi, who was the point guard on last year’s junior varsity team.
Kenny saw some varsity time last year, averaging 1.4 points per game. Jouppi played 14 varsity games, after having injuries that knocked out most all of her eighth-grade and freshman seasons.
Junior Kaitlyn Laffey (1.1 points), a forward, is another player that is back after seeing some varsity action last season.
Two seniors that could see playing time are forwards Sam Mrnak and Helene Stolle, an exchange student from Germany.
Mt. Vernon graduated its top three scorers (Lexi Shelton, Olivia Yeley and Abby Worley) from its 2020-21 team that won 19 games, conference and sectional titles. Even with the big losses, the Marauders found a way to success last season led by the performance in larger roles from Minch, Shipley and Swingle.
The Marauders will try to do that all over again in 2022-23.
