By Noah Dalton
BLOOMINGTON – Mitchell High School traveled to Bloomington North on Tuesday night to take on the Cougars, ultimately falling 55-24.
Both the Bluejackets and Bloomington North struggled from the field in the first quarter, with both teams shooting under 20% in the period. The Cougars were able to find their way to the free-throw line to create an early advantage, going 6/12 from the stripe to help them finish the quarter leading 8-5.
Mitchell’s struggles from the field continued in the second, shooting just 2/14 in the quarter, while Bloomington North began to heat up. They finished the quarter outscoring the Bluejackets 25-5 behind nine made field goals in the period to take a commanding 23-point lead into halftime.
Mitchell head coach Dakota Brasher said that his team’s issues on the offensive end, and the frustration that came with it, likely bled into their defense, leading to the second-quarter explosion from the Cougars.
“Their coach did a really good job and they’ve got some really good players out there. They got going, and right now, with our inexperience, we couldn’t battle back from a four, six, or eight-point run from them,” he said. “We let one mistake turn into two at times and that’s what we ran into in the second quarter. Our energy and effort is there, communication is there for the most part. We had some shots not fall, that kind of hurt our second quarter when they got going. It’s really easy to guard when shots are falling. When shots aren’t falling defense becomes a whole lot harder, so we ran into those problems.”
Bloomington North continued to score in the second half, building there lead up to the 35-point threshold to initiate a running clock midway through the third quarter.
The Bluejackets were able to find a bit more offense in the second half, getting to the line themselves 18 times in the final two periods, though they were only able to convert six of those attempts.
Leighann Thompson was Mitchell’s top scorer on the night, finishing the game with 11 points. Just behind her was Jillian Bond, who added eight, along with 15 rebounds.
Following this game, the Bluejackets’ record is now 1-18 on the year. With a young roster, which includes just two seniors, Bond and Briley Dicks, Brasher is looking to continue building experience for his team that will benefit the players both on and off the floor, rather than focusing on their record as they near the end of their regular season with just four games remaining.
“If you get caught up in the wins and losses, you kind of forget what really matters. We’re not just worried about wins and losses, we’re worried about growing people and creating young women to go out and be productive members of our society. We’re getting better every day. We’re changing how we go about things every day and these girls will apply that to their everyday lives,” he said.
“Wins and losses don’t matter if you’re not doing those things. So that’s first and foremost and that’s what we’re doing. We’re changing the way we do things. We’re changing the way things have been done. We’re growing young women and we’re getting better. We’re playing better basketball than we were a game before and that’s our goal and that’s our mission.”
