
By Noah Dalton
MITCHELL – Mitchell High School was back in action on Tuesday, traveling to Paoli for one of the Bluejackets’ final games of the season.
In the matchup, Mitchell struggled on offense early, eventually leading to a 43-13 defeat to the Rams.
Those struggles were perhaps most apparent in the first quarter, where the Bluejackets were held scoreless, with only one shot attempted, a three from Paisley Modglin near the end of the period.
They went on to finish the quarter only trailing 5-0, despite those early issues.
“It was an ugly first quarter, which, to be honest, that’s how we have to win basketball games right now, is to be tougher and to really muck it up defensively. And we did a good job of that, it was 5-0 at the end of the first quarter,” said Mitchell head coach Dakota Brasher.
“They pressed, which we knew would be a possibility, and it bothered us, our stuff wasn’t working to get in there.”
Mitchell’s first basket was scored early in the second by Abigail Fountain. From there, the two sides traded a few buckets back-and-forth before Paoli launched into an 8-0 run to end the half.
The Rams continued to pull away in the third, led by the efforts of senior Jericho Hopper.
Hopper, who scored 11 in the first half, scored eight in the third on a perfect 4/4 shooting.
“She’s a great player. She’s so high IQ and she knows how to play inside and how to get position. She does a really good job,” Brasher said about Hopper.
Paoli secured the win with another strong effort in the fourth, once again holding the Bluejackets to a scoreless frame, though this time they were able to attempt 13 shots, compared to their single attempt in the initial period.
Hopper led all scorers on the night with 21 points. Also in double figures for the Rams was Kayln Hannon, who scored 10.
Mitchell’s top scorer was Paisley Modglin with six points. Anna Sowders scored three, while Fountain and Raylee Thompson each added two.
Brasher said the team will take their extended break before their final game of the regular season on Thursday, Jan. 30 against Orleans, the #8 ranked team in Indiana’s 1A division, to refocus on fundamentals, as they’ve done all year.
“Nothing changes for us. We are taking the day off tomorrow because we have a nine-day break before Orleans. We’re coming in on Thursday and Friday, and it’s going to be fundamentals, It’s going to be the same thing we’ve been doing since October,” he said.
“At the end of the day, we’ve just got to keep stacking good days together. It sucks. We definitely had a little letdown tonight. We were better than the score indicated. We’ve got to show up and keep at it.”