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By Brennan Stebbins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
It was exactly one week ago that Ellie Johnston interrupted teammate Lacy Stokes’ postgame interview with some good news: the Mt. Vernon senior duo had just won their 100th game in high school.
That was after the district championship game. On Saturday, Johnston interrupted Stokes again with some even bigger news: “Yeah! We’re going to state!”
Stokes scored 17 points in the second half and the Mountaineers overcame an 11-point deficit to beat Blair Oaks 46-45 in a Class 4 quarterfinal, earning the school’s first trip to the Final Four since Mt. Vernon won it all in 2012.
“I thought winning sectionals was cool but this, this is even better and to get to do it with my best friend again – we’re just ready to keep going,” Stokes said. “Our goal is there and we want to do everything we can to get there.”
The Mountaineers (27-3) will face Vashon (17-1) at 6 p.m. Friday in the semifinals at JQH Arena in Springfield.
“We wrote a letter to ourselves in eighth grade and I think mine was at least one year in high school to get to the Final Four and win state,” Stokes said. “That’s what I’m doing for my senior year.”
Early in the third quarter that goal looked to be in jeopardy. Mt. Vernon had trailed since late in the first quarter and found itself down 33-22 two minutes into the second half.
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But the Mountaineers mounted a 14-2 run, pulling within two on a Stokes three from the corner and taking a 36-35 lead on a Stokes three from in front of the student section. She connected again from three-point range on the team’s next possession to make it 39-37.
“I went into the half with two points and our confidence was kind of down, me personally my confidence was down,” she said.
She remedied that with 13 points in the third quarter alone.
“That’s what you want your senior point guard, 2,000-point kid to do for you in a game like this is kind of put you on their back and get you back in it,” Mt. Vernon coach Grant Berendt said. “It took all of us but it takes a gutsy kid to make a shot when you’ve got six foot flying at you on the wing or in the corner there. I felt like we got good shots early in the game but number four did a good job protecting the basket and blocking stuff or deflecting some stuff we typically get but today we had to adjust a few things we did.”
The Mountaineers trailed again in the fourth by as many as three but Stokes tied it at 42 on another three from the corner. Senior Lisa Kruger tied it at 44 and then junior Cameryn Cassity made a free throw to give Mt. Vernon a one-point lead with 4:57 left to play.
Blair Oaks, meanwhile, was scoreless on six straight possessions with three turnovers. Stokes added a free throw at the 2:47 mark for a 46-44 lead and Mt. Vernon ate more than a minute from the clock on its next possession.
With nine seconds left, Blair Oaks freshman Autumn Bax went to the free throw line with a chance to tie it. She made the first shot but missed the second; the Falcons got the rebound and put up a shot for the lead. That missed and Bax chased down a loose ball by the bench and threw it back into play where Stokes grabbed it and took off running down the court as time expired.
She was quickly mobbed by the student section.
“It’s an unbelievable feeling,” Berendt said. “I’ve been here as an assistant a few times, I’ve never been here as a head coach. I’m super proud of our kids. Lacy and Ellie since they were kids have talked about doing this. They were in the stands watching that 2012 team go all the way and win it. When I got here, the tradition here is so rich in girls basketball. That’s kind of what every class would like to get to. We got to sectionals for three straight years and bowed out to Strafford, who won it. We broke through this year. We had to fight to do it and claw and scratch and everything else but unbelievable feeling.”
It was Mt. Vernon’s second last-minute win in the playoffs; the team beat Ava 53-49 in the sectionals on Wednesday despite trailing in the final minutes. A Stokes bucket with nine seconds left put the Mountaineers ahead.
Berendt doubted his team would have won on Saturday if not for the close game days earlier.
“We hadn’t faced a lot of second half deficits in the last month of the season so for us to have one in a big game and get that monkey off the back in the sectional – if we can’t come from behind in a game like that then we don’t win this one.”
The 5-foot-11 Kruger, who scored 10 points against Blair Oaks, was also instrumental in both wins.
“That’s her second time this year in double figures but if we don’t have Lisa Kruger in the last two games to battle the 6-foot-1 at Ava and a 6-foot-1 here then we don’t win these games,” Berendt said. “Our other kids with Allie Schubert and Cameryn Cassity and Raegan Boswell do a great job but they’re about 5-7 so we give up five, six inches on most nights. To have a 5-10 kid that’s strong and won’t allow a kid to do what she wants to do and just power her – huge, huge.”
Stokes scored a game-high 19 points and Kruger was the only other Mountaineer in double figures. Johnston added eight, Cassity five and Boswell four.
Junior Mallorie Fick scored 18 for Blair Oaks and Bax scored 10.
