MOUNT VERNON — A little time off never hurt anyone. Tell that to the Mount Vernon High School girls basketball team.
After a week and a half off, the Yellow Jackets returned to action on Saturday at “The Hive,” playing Coshocton. For the first eight minutes of play, neither team looked like it had ever seen a basketball before. For the last 24 minutes, however, it was a competitive battle, which saw Mount Vernon come out on top, 41-37.
“We had a week and a half off over the Christmas holiday since we beat Columbus South,” said Mount Vernon coach Doug Savage. “We knew Coshocton would be good. They have a real patient team, and I knew they had good guard play. The combination of those two, I knew, would cause us some frustration, but I thought we showed good patience defensively as well. I thought we made some good strong stops, and got them frustrated. … Overall, it was a good win, a tough win, a physical win.”
The game started slowly, with just one basket for each team in the first six minutes. Nikki DiGuilio took a pass from Jhazmyn Anderson and scored off a layup to get Mount Vernon (4-4) on the board. Kitrina Neiger scored twice in the final two minutes for Coshocton (1-6), however, to put the Redskins up, 6-4, after one. Karina Shackle scored the Jackets’ other bucket off a pass from Anderson.
Mount Vernon retook the lead just 11 seconds into the second quarter as Paige Wagner drilled a 3-pointer, but Coshocton tried to take control. Over the next seven-plus minutes, the Redskins went on a 10-4 run to go up five, 16-11. The Jackets, behind buckets from Shackle and DiGuilio, tied the game at 16 with 1:36 to go, but a jumper by Katy Johnson put Coshocton up at the half.
After a few minutes of rest, the Jackets came out of the locker room looking refreshed. Five points from DiGuilio helped start an 8-3 run for Mount Vernon. Coshocton managed to tie the game at 24, but another 3-pointer by DiGuilio started a 6-2 spurt to close the quarter and left Mount Vernon up, 30-26, after three.
“In the first half, they played pretty much all zone, and we ran our basic zone offense. We really couldn’t make anything,” said Savage. “I thought we had some good looks at the basket, but we couldn’t get anything going. We had that old bug-a-boo of not being able to put the ball in the basket, but we found ourselves only down by two at halftime. We felt pretty good about that. I liked our defense only giving up 18.
“In the second half, we got a little bit better. We hit some outside shots, and got to the foul line a lot more.”
Two sets of free throws by Wagner pushed the lead to eight in the first minute of the fourth quarter, but Coshocton wasn’t going down without a fight. The Redskins, behind Neiger, went on a 10-1 run over the next four-plus minutes, and took a 36-35 lead with 2:55 to play.
Foul trouble caught up with them, however, and Mount Vernon took advantage. Shackle scored off a layup to retake the lead, and Coshocton’s Taylor Arnold fouled out on the play. Neiger was then called for an intentional foul, which put DiGuilio on the floor, on the Jackets’ next possession. DiGuilio hit both shots to make it a three-point game. Neiger added one free throw over a minute later to pull her team back within two, but she fouled out with 24 seconds to go. DiGuilio hit both shots to seal the 41-37 victory.
DiGuilio led all scorers with 21 points, going 10-of-12 at the free-throw line. Mount Vernon was 10-of-37 from the field and 17-of-21 at the charity stripe for the game. DiGuilio also had seven rebounds. Wagner dropped in nine points and pulled down five boards; Shackle finished with eight points and five rebounds.
“Our free throws are really what won this for us,” said Savage. “[Coshocton] got behind and had to foul us a little but more than they wanted to, but we were trying to attack all day. We got some frustration fouls on their part, which helped. We really have to get to the foul line and knock down our free throws, because that is one of our primary ways to score points.”
Neiger scored 19 on 6-of-15 shooting for the Redskins. She went 7-of-8 at the foul line. Johnson added nine points, and Shay Counts had five points, seven rebounds, two steals and four assists. Coshocton was 13-of-38 from the field and 11-of-17 at the free-throw line as a team.
In reserve action, Mount Vernon picked up another victory. This time, the Jackets (7-0) routed the Redskins, 42-21. Jauni Gleason scored 11 points in the victory, and Keli Thompson added eight points. Rebecca Fiecoat dropped in seven points, and Courtney Burke had six points.
The Jackets are back in action Tuesday, wrapping up a five-game homestand with an Ohio Capital Conference Capital Division contest against Watkins Memorial. Tip-off for the jayvee game is set for 6 p.m.
“This was a good test for us,” said Savage. “I think you could see in the first half, you could see where hadn’t played for a week and a half. It is hard to practice at the same intensity you’ll see in a game.
“We play Watkins Memorial on Tuesday, and then we have a couple of practices to get ready for a good Big Walnut team, which has only lost one league game this year. It is another big week for us coming up. We’ll have to be ready for both games.”
