By Noah Dalton
SHOALS — For the first time since the 2021-22 season, Mitchell High School has won back-to-back games, after beating Shoals 53-33 on Tuesday night. Their previous win came last week, when they beat Brown County 44-36.
The Bluejackets got off to a hot start in the matchup, scoring the first six points of the night.
They managed to hold the Jug Rox without a made field goal in the first quarter, but lead by only three points, 12-9, at the end of period with Shoals making up the difference at the free-throw line across 12 tries.
Mitchell expanded upon their narrow lead with a much cleaner second quarter.
The Bluejackets went on an 11-0 run to start the period, keeping Shoals off the free-throw line while forcing 12 turnovers and holding them to just four points.
According to Mitchell head coach Dakota Brasher, both the forced turnovers and free-throw attempts allowed were a result of his team’s increased defensive pressure in this game.
The Bluejackets played full-court defense throughout the night, forcing 27 turnovers overall, which led to quite a few baskets for them on the other end.
“We just thought that we could maybe come out and speed them up a little bit,” Brasher said.
“Not playing like that a ton, trying to figure things out the first quarter and really the first 12 minutes of the game or so. Playing without fouling is something we struggle with right now,” he added.
In the third, Shoals found their way back to the free-throw line for 11 more attempts, making seven of them.
They ultimately scored 15 in the quarter to mark their most productive showing of the night thus far, Mitchell managed to maintain an even pace, matching them point for point to hold their double-digit lead.
By the final buzzer, the Bluejackets had secured a 20-point victory, doing so while scoring a season-high 53 points.
“We’re starting to figure some things out. I feel like we’re handling pressure a little bit better tonight than we have,” Brasher said.
“Really all it comes down to, less turnovers, executing our stuff better. We’re still making mistakes, but that’s ultimately what the result on the scoreboard comes down to tonight.”
Jug Rox’s guard Kayla Marshman led all scorers for the night with 20 points, going 12/19 from the charity stripe. As a team, Shoals shot 17-28 from the line.
Raylee Thompson led Mitchell in scoring with 18 points. A trio of Bluejackets, Karlee Gabhart, Raylee Blackwell and Abigail Fountain each added six points.
The next night, Mitchell is set for a Patoka Lake Athletic Conference showdown against Crawford County, making up a previously postponed meeting between the two teams.
Brasher said the team will look to continue their momentum after picking up consecutive wins for the first time during his three year tenure as head coach.
“It’s good to have some momentum. We’ve got a tough contest tomorrow against Crawford,” said Brasher.
“There’s stuff that we can get better at and stuff we need to learn from, but it’s good to learn after a win instead of after a loss. Everybody takes coaching a little better when you’ve won.”
