By Denise Tucker (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
Thursday night’s performance is not one that Mount Vernon head coach Dusty Killingsworth wants his team to make a habit.
Despite another slow start for the third straight game, his fourth-seeded Lady Mountaineers pulled out a 53-51 victory over No. 8 Clever in a Pink Division semifinal of the Pink and White Lady Classic at Drury University’s O’Reilly Family Event Center.
“The thing is it happens once, it’s kind of a surprise, but it’s happened back-to-back days and that’s becoming a habit and we cannot have that,” Killingsworth said. “We’ve played two really good teams the last couple of days, and with that, we’re about two or three possessions away in those games of not pulling those victories out.
“We definitely were ugly today and a win against a quality team like (Clever) that’s well-coached, that’s got players like what they’ve got… for us to come back shows a lot of character from our team and shows a lot of heart from our team.”
And it wasn’t pretty early on for the Lady Mountaineers – several missed shots, missed free throws and a five-point second quarter didn’t do them any favors – and Clever had a lot to do with that.
The Lady Bluejays jumped out to a 12-9 first-quarter lead and a 23-14 advantage at the half. Clever, which was coming off a 60-51 upset of top-seeded White Station out of Memphis, dominated the boards and got big blocks from Abi Menzies and Madison Gladney in the middle for much of the game.
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE GAME
Clever led by 10 with about three minutes remaining in the third quarter, and had held Mount Vernon all-stater Cameron Call without a point during the second and third quarters. Mount Vernon outscored Clever 15-13, but still trailed by seven heading into the fourth.
But, the Lady Mountaineers remained patient and began to cut into Clever’s lead.
“We were rushing and over-cutting,” Killingsworth said. “That’s the effort that they were giving, but sometimes you can have too much effort.
“When we started to relax and stay patient and spread out, then we were getting looks that we wanted, and we started to play the way we wanted to play.”
Those looks came at the start of the fourth quarter when Lacy Stokes found Call at the top of the key for an open 3-pointer to pull Mount Vernon within four (36-32). Three straight baskets extended Clever’s lead back to 10, but Call and Caitlin Hicks hit back-to-back 3s to make it 42-38.
The teams continued to trade baskets, and with 1:50 remaining in the game, Hicks hit a 3 at the top of the key to give Mount Vernon its first lead of the game (51-49).
Harper Little, who led all scorers with 21 points, hit two free throws for Clever to tie it at 51, but Lyndsey Hood’s baseline jumper gave the lead back to Mount Vernon (53-51).
Clever still had its chances, though.
With 39.7 seconds left, Clever had two free throws, but missed them both, plus a layup just before the buzzer.
“I don’t think that they did anything other than knock down open shots that we provided them,” Clever coach Dan Jones said. “And, nothing against Mount Vernon, they’re a great team, but we covered that the whole game. I think we let the spotlights kind of get in our eyes, and had some breakdowns. Things that aren’t characteristic for this team were happening. We were turning the ball over, missing defensive assignments, missing some free throws, missing layups and shots underneath the basket.
“It was one of those nights where the ball didn’t bounce our way.”
Up next for Mount Vernon is No. 2 seed Strafford, which is riding a 60-game win streak, for the Pink Division championship.
“To win the Pink and White would be really special, but it’s going to be really difficult because of who we are playing,” Killingsworth said of Strafford, which knocked them out of a Class 3 sectional last season. “This is an ideal situation for us because we have faced adversity.
“If we don’t come out sharp tomorrow, it could be over very, very quickly because I know they are going to be ready.
“But I know our girls and they’ll be ready.”
Pink and White Lady Classic
Pink Division semifinal
No. 4 Mount Vernon 53, No. 8 Clever 51
CLEVER 12-11-13-15—51
MOUNT VERNON 9-5-15-24—53
CLEVER (8-3) – Allie Clevenger 15, Tessa Newman 5, Harper Little 21, Madison Gladney 2, Abi Menzies 8.
MOUNT VERNON (8-1) – Ashlyn McCanless 5, Lacy Stokes 8, Caitlin Hicks 19, Cameron Call 12, Camryn Eldridge 3, Maddy Mosley 2, Lyndsey Hood 4.
