MOUNT VERNON — After starting the season with three straight road games, the Mount Vernon High School girls basketball teams graced the floor of “The Hive” on Friday night. Welcoming the Delaware Hayes Pacers to town, Mount Vernon fought hard only to suffer another defeat.
The Pacers used their size in the post to overpower the Yellow Jackets and pull away with a 62-47 varsity victory. Twin sisters Makeda and Anasa Matthews provided 32 points and 27 rebounds for Delaware (5-0, 3-0 Ohio Capital Conference Capital Division).
“I think we competed. There is no doubt about that,” said Mount Vernon coach Doug Savage. “We played them pretty tough in the first half. ... In the long run, they had too much size and too much power. They shot a high percentage from the inside, and then you add in our transition defense, and they got several easy baskets that way. I don’t think effort is a question for us at this point. We just don’t get many easy baskets. We have to work for everything.”
Delaware jumped out to a 7-2 lead in the first three-plus minutes of Friday’s game, and despite a 7-3 run by the Jackets (1-3, 1-2 OCC), continued to stay ahead. A 3-pointer by Nikki DiGuilio tied the game at 12 for Mount Vernon with 59 seconds to play, but a jumper by Chelsie Burden put the Pacers up, 14-12, after one.
Both teams traded buckets to start the second quarter before DiGuilio took an assist from Tori Chapman and drilled a 3-pointer, giving Mount Vernon its first — and only — lead of the game. Delaware put together an 8-2 spurt to retake a five-point lead, but the Jackets got four points from Sadie Malone to pull within one with 3:46 to play. The Pacers outscored Mount Vernon, 6-3, to take a four-point lead into the locker room, 30-26.
Playing perhaps their best basketball of the night, the Pacers came out in the third quarter and lit up the scoreboard. A putback by Anasa Matthews and two layups by Caroline Welker started a 15-4 run for Delaware, and opened up a 15-point lead, 45-30. Mount Vernon got a pair of 3s in the final minute to cut the deficit to 11, 47-36, after three.
Mount Vernon continued to whittle the Delaware lead down in the fourth quarter. A 3-pointer by Malone, and a jumper and a 3 by Karina Shackle cut the Pacers’ spread down to five, 49-44, with 6:21 to play. That was as close as the Jackets got, however.
Behind Makeda and Anasa Matthews, who combined for 12 points in the fourth quarter, the Pacers went on a 13-3 run to end the game.
“It seems like, every year, we play them tough, but we can’t beat them,” said Savage. “Two years ago, we took them into overtime here. Then last year, we lost by three over at their place. We played them tough again tonight, but it always seems in the long run, they get the better of us. We put them at the free-throw line quite a bit, and they seem to shoot a high percentage. That’s what the story line has been each of the last three years. They’ve done heavy damage to us.”
DiGuilio led all scorers with 24 points for Mount Vernon. She also lead the Jackets with eight rebounds. Malone and Shackle each had seven points, and Paige Wagner had six points, three assists and two steals.
“Nikki is going to be feeling the teeth of the defense probably for the rest of the year,” Savage said. “She played big for us tonight. A lot of her buckets were contested, and weren’t easy shots. ... She is going to get the other team’s best defender. She has had back-to-back games where she has scored 30 and 24 points now. She is going to have her work cut out for her.”
In addition to the Matthews sisters’ big night, Delaware got 17 points, five assists and two steals from Welker. Brittany Skeens also finished in double figures with 11 points. She also had three steals, three assists and a block.
In junior varsity action, Mount Vernon improved to 4-0 with a 50-29 pounding of Delaware. Tori Flemming was perfect from the field, scoring 13 points. Keli Thompson added 10 points, Macie Malone scored nine points and Courtney Burke dropped in eight points.
Mount Vernon, which was scheduled to play Northridge tonight but will not due to a schedule mix-up, continues its home stand next week. The Jackets host Westerville North on Tuesday in a nonconference game, and then hosts Franklin Heights Friday night.
“We’ve got a little stretch here where we are at home,” said Savage. “If we can keep getting better, we will have some success. The score tonight wasn’t really indicative of how close the game was. If we can continue to get better — we’ve got to get stronger on the boards somehow — we have a chance to win some games and be competitive. We’ve been competitive thus far. It has just not been quite enough to win.”
