By Noah Dalton
LEOPOLD — Mitchell High School struggled out of the gates in their first game of Patoka Athletic Conference play on Friday, falling to Perry Central 62-18.
The Commodores jumped out to an early 10-0 lead, holding the Bluejackets scoreless early on with tight defensive pressure and a suffocating full-court press. It took Mitchell nearly five minutes to score their first points of the night, ultimately ending the first quarter trailing by double-digits on their way to a 35-11 deficit at the half.
The Bluejackets encountered similar issues in their previous outing, where they were beaten by Salem. Against the Lions, Mitchell turned the ball over 20 times in the first half, creating a deficit they weren’t able to overcome, despite improved play in the later stages of the game.
Against Perry Central, the Bluejackets gave the ball up 17 times against the press in the first half, 30 in total for the night, limiting their opportunities offensively, while also generating easier looks for the Commodores on the other end.
“They’re really athletic, and they use it to their advantage. They play a style that’s consistent with them,” said Mitchel head coach Dakota Brasher. “We had 30 turnovers tonight, obviously that’s a problem. You turn the ball over 30 times, the scoreboard’s going to look like what it did tonight.”
The second half continued in a similar direction, with Perry Central pushing their lead above 35 points midway through the third quarter, triggering a running clock for the remainder of play, as they held Mitchell to just three points in the period while continuing to find points for themselves on offense.
Brasher said he and his coaching staff remain working to improve the team’s fundamentals, an area where he feels his team’s struggles have led to turnovers in the past few games.
“It’s still fundamental. Every game is still about us. We’re still doing the things that have to be done,” he said.
“It’s the same thing that every coach in Indiana is working on. Meeting the ball, catching it with two hands, pivots. Every coach has some element of that in the work that they do. It’s fundamental to the game.
We need to do it, maybe more than other people do. We’ve got to keep working. We’ve got to keep getting better.”
Gloria Sommer was the leading scorer for Perry Central with 16 points. Also in double figures for the Commodores were Masen Labhart with 15 points and Mya Litherland with 10 points.
Leading the Bluejackets in scoring with Ava Woods with six points, all of which came during a perfect second quarter from the floor, where she made 3/3 attempts. Raylee Thompson, Leighann Thompson and Paisley Modglin were behind her with three points each.
Next on the schedule for Mitchell is the renewal of a county rivalry with Bedford North Lawrence.
Brasher looks at the opportunity to play strong competition like the Perry Central team the Bluejackets just squared off against and their incoming matchup with the Stars as an opportunity for his young team to gain valuable experience as they look to continue improving as the season goes on.
“We need to control what we can control. We’re not looking at the opponent across from us’ jersey right now.It’s a county rivalry. It will be a great environment for us to play and get us ready for sectional time,” said Brasher. “To be honest, that’s all we’re concerned with. How do we get better tomorrow night and keep improving?”
