Abby Princehouse
Mount Vernon’s Taylor Franck (No. 11) goes for a layup uncontested at the net.
Top-ranked Mount Vernon girls’ basketball started their return path to the state tournament by hammering Vinton-Shellsburg in a Class 3A playoff game Saturday, Feb. 15.
Mount Vernon won, 68-23.
Like the regular-season matchup, which the Mustangs won 77-25, Mount Vernon got off to a hot start and led 21-3 after the first quarter and 47-11 by half.
“We were stellar defensively, particularly in the first half,” Mount Vernon coach Nathan Sanderson said. “We limited the visitors to just four field goals while forcing 18 turnovers and allowing zero offensive rebounds.
“Our goal was to play sound, solid position defense and we did an outstanding job.”
Offensively, Sydney Huber led the attack with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Chloe Meester added 15 points, Savanna Wright had 12 points and Taylor Franck added 10 points.
Next up is a regional semifinal against Solon (12-10) on Wednesday, Feb. 19, at Mount Vernon. Mount Vernon (21-1) beat their Hwy. 1 rivals 62-30 on Dec. 17 and 57-33 on Jan. 24.
Win that, and Mount Vernon would host the winner of No. 13 Mediapolis (21-1) and Benton Community (8-14) in a regional final Saturday, Feb. 22.
On Tuesday, Feb. 11, Mount Vernon closed the regular season with a 61-42 win over No. 12 (4A) Clear Creek Amana at XTream Arena in Coralville.
The Mustangs got out to a 23-10 lead after one quarter. CCA got within striking distance (10 points) midway through the fourth quarter.
Huber led the offense with 17 points. Taylor Franck had 14 points and Chloe Meester had 14 points and 16 rebounds. The win gave Mount Vernon the overall WaMaC Championship.