After winning a state championship Friday night, the Mount Vernon girls’ basketball team stayed up late, late, late into the night in the hotel lobby and hotel rooms, soaking up how good it all felt.
And just not wanting the season to be over.
“We just wanted to celebrate,” freshman Savanna Wright said. “We accomplished so much. We didn’t want the moment to end. We stayed up all night bonding. It was the last time this exact team would play together. We might never nave that again.”
Mount Vernon earned its Class 3A crown. Winning three games in five days at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines. The Mustangs finished 26-1, their only loss an early-season setback to 5A state qualifier Cedar Rapids Prairie.
“It was really gratifying to see how far we’ve come,” Mount Vernon coach Nate Sanderson said. “It is a credit to all the players and kids who bought in the process and what we’ve tried to build.
“I think back to the first three senior classes, who built the foundation to make this possible.”
The year before Sanderson came to Mount Vernon, the Mustangs finished 1-20. The next year it was 12-11, then 16-8, then 22-4 and a push into the state semifinals.
And, finally, the title. The second in Mount Vernon history and first since 2010.
“It was a great feeling,” junior Courtney Franck said. “We were just all happy we got it done. We knew that we could. We had the talent.”
Mount Vernon dominated the alltournament team, with Wright, Franck and senior Sydney Huber earning three of the six spots. Huber, who averaged 17.0 points per game at state, was named the all-tournament team captain.
“It meant a lot,” Huber said. “That was a great, great feeling.”
Quarterfinal: Mount Vernon 75, West Marshall 19
Class 3A teams have the longest wait from their regional final to their state quarterfinal on Monday, March 3. The Mustangs invested a lot of time learning about West Marshall.
“Our coaching staff does a great job learning what the other team wants to do, then taking most of that away,” Sanderson said.
Those assistants are Jacob Misener, Ben Knake and Jason Pershing.
But no amount of coaching could’ve prepared the Mustangs for how their freshman guard would react during her f irst game on the biggest stage.
“Oh, I was definitely nervous,” Wright said. “My teammates helped me not be nervous. Once I touched the ball, everything was fine.”
Wright scored 10 points as Mount Vernon raced out to a 17-4 lead. That included two 3-pointers and a steal and layup.
“She was all over the court and played a great game,” Sanderson said. “You never know with freshmen, but Sav is a gamer. She is poised and tough. We got to see that all week.”
Mount Vernon led 25-7 after one quarter, then started the second quarter with a 17-0 run. It was 47-9 at halftime. That set up a rematch with Estherville-Lincoln Central, the team that beat the Mustangs in the semifinals a year prior.
Semifinal: Mount Vernon 35, ELC 34
The final score is a bit misleading. The Midgets sank two 3-pointers in the final 20 seconds.
Mount Vernon was never comfortably ahead, but led 17-14 at half, and never trailed in the second half on Thursday, March 6.
“When we play ELC, our offense isn’t there sometimes,” Franck said. “But our defense stepped up. That’s the main thing that helped us get the win.”
The Mustangs made sure to make life miserable for ELC senior Haylee Stokes, who will play collegiately at Minnesota State.
“Taylor (Franck) wore her down,” Sanderson said. “We tried to make it tough on her.”
Stokes finished just 5 of 22 shooting, including 1 of 10 from the arc.
After losing to the Midgets 45-37 last March, Mount Vernon beat ELC on Rivalry Saturday back in November, 52-42.
“It is tough any time you know a team that well,” Sanderson said. “But I didn’t expect the score to be in the 30s. But we find a way when we have to.” (Mount Vernon previous low-scoring game was in a 47-43 win over Bolingbrook, Ill., in December.)
Stokes did surge a bit in the third quarter, tying the game up 19-19 with a pair of baskets. But Huber came through with a pair of big 3-pointers for Mount Vernon, and Courtney Franck closed the quarter with a second-chance bucket to make it 27-21.
“Stokes is a senior, and we knew she was going to give it her all,” Courtney Franck said. “The key was not giving her any easy catches or wide-open shots. She is capable of knocking those down.” ELC took a time out with 3:53 left to play, and Rylee Yager hit a 3-pointer after that to cut the lead to four, 32-28.
Taylor Franck had a big second-chance basket and Courtney Franck hit 1 of 2 at the line to make it 35-28 with 20 seconds to play.
“It was a two-possession game for most of the last three quarters, and we couldn’t get it to 10 points,” Sanderson said. “We were never comfortable until the last few seconds.”
“Honestly I was really happy to beat them,” Franck said. “I was more nervous to play them than Wahlert.”
Championship: Mount Vernon 47, Dubuque Wahlert 36
Huber has signed to play with the Evansville next year. If any Purple Ace fans need a resume, they can check out the first quarter of the 3A championship.
Huber was ready to go Friday night, making five baskets, including two 3-pointers, in the first quarter as Mount Vernon got out to a 14-10 lead.
“She was awesome at both ends of the floor,” Sanderson said. “She drew the defensive assignment on Claire Lueken, a first-team all-state player she plays with in AAU.
“She was excited about that.” “I know that she is a great player,” Huber said of Lueken. “I was guarding one of my good friends, and I was glad I got to do that.
“I tried to be on her every time she touched the ball.”
Like the semifinal round, defense set the tone in the championship. Mount Vernon led at half 22-15. They opened the second half with a driving layup by Courtney Franck and an and-1 3-point play by Chloe Meester to make it 27-15 with 4:47 left in the third quarter.
Mount Vernon led by ten, 36-26, going into the f inal quarter. Claire King and Lucy Lueken hit back-to-back 3-pointers early in the fourth quarter to cut the lead to six, 38-32, but Huber put on her cape again.
The senior hit a pair of foul shots, then sank a 3-pointer to make it an 11-point lead, 43-32. “Syd came up with the big shot,” Sanderson said. “What an outstanding way to end her high school career. Pretty unbelievable.”
Time to celebrate.