By Noah Dalton
VINCENNES – Amidst a seven-game losing streak, Mitchell High School travelled to Vincennes Rivet, looking to turn their luck around against a storied program, with seven appearances in the 1A Indiana State Championship game since 2009, winning the tournament in 2011.
Ultimately, the Patriots ended the afternoon victorious 39-19, taking advantage of an off night shooting the ball from the Bluejackets, who finished the night shooting just 8/58 (13.79%) from the field.
Mitchell started the game in control, holding a lead for most of the first quarter, with Vincennes Rivet unable to score until the final few minutes, where they were able to hit a couple of shots to even the score at 4-4 by the end of the period.
The second was where the Bluejackets’ struggles began, as they were held without a field goal for the entire quarter, scoring just one point on a made free-throw from Leighann Thompson with just over two minutes left. That point broke a run from the Patriots of 16 unanswered points.
Midway through the third, Mitchell’s Raylee Thompson scored on a shot attempt near the basket, marking the team’s first made shot since the early goings of the first quarter, as the Patriots continued to find points to extend their lead.
The Bluejackets scored nine points in the fourth, their best offensive performance of the game, but were unable to fend off Vincennes Rivet to come back into the game, with the Patriots eventually claiming the 20-point win.
Mitchell’s shooting woes in this game weren’t the result of bad shot attempts and poor quality looks, according to head coach Dakota Brasher.
Vincennes Rivet’s 2-3 zone defense forced the Bluejackets out of the paint, challenging them instead to take deep shots, ones that Brasher said he’s confident his team is capable of making.
The Patriots’ plan paid off, with Mitchell finishing the game at 0/25 from beyond the three-point line.
“Yeah, when you play a team playing a 2-3, they’re really not taking our shots away, and they’re not giving us the rim. You’ve gotta stretch it outside, and you’ve gotta make them step out a little bit,” he said.
“I feel like we’ve got shooters. I feel like we’ve got good shooters. I’m confident with them hitting shots. I want girls to be confident. I’m not gonna tell them not to shoot, especially when they’re open. Especially the girls that we had shooting shots tonight. They just didn’t fall. Sometimes that happens. It was disappointing.”
Outside of the shooting numbers, the Bluejackets managed to outperform Vincennes Rivet in other key areas of the game that they’d previously struggled with amidst their losing streak, forcing more turnovers (22) than they’d given up (20) and outrebounding them 36-34.
The only missing piece were the points, trapped by a lid on the rim that seemed determined to keep every shot out.
If we hit a few shots, it’s a totally different game. Sometimes you live by the three and die by the three, especially against a team that plays the style they do. So, credit to them for doing that.
We just did not shoot the ball well enough,” Brasher said.
Raylee Thompson was Mitchell’s leading scorer with six points. Just behind her was Leighann Thompson, with four.
Vincennes Rivet’s Piper Lewis was the leading scorer for the game with 15 points. She was aided in her efforts by Bridget Stine, who added eight points.
Next up on the schedule for the Bluejackets is a make-up date for their previously scheduled game against Brown County.
That game was first set to take place on Dec. 2, has since been rescheduled to Wed. Dec. 10 due to inclement weather on the original date. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.
