By Noah Dalton
MITCHELL — Mitchell High School entered Saturday afternoon’s matchup against New Washington looking to rebound from their first loss of the season against Salem on Thursday, but the Bluejackets fell 61-45 to the Mustangs in their first home game of the season.
New Washington jumped out to a 17-9 lead after the first quarter, with turnovers perhaps the largest factor. Mitchell committed 18 on the night, 12 of them in the first half, and head coach Cari Isom said that was the focus when she made adjusts in the second quarter.
“You can’t score if you don’t have the ball,” she said. “If you keep turning the ball over, you’re not going to give yourself an opportunity. I told them, I need girls that can take care of the basketball.”
The Bluejackets played the Mustangs evenly in the second quarter, but couldn’t chip away at the early deficit, ultimately trailing 30-22 at the break.
They also had trouble finding shots against New Washington’s zone defense in the second quarter, which Isom said came down to how the ball moved.
“We’re not going to find open shots against the zone if we just keep passing it to wing, to top, to wing. And we practice, we have to get the ball into the high post, she said.
Mitchell climbed back in the third quarter, with Asiah Saunders hitting a pair of threes and Raylee Thompson adding points from the field and the free throw line to trim the deficit to six. Isom said the group on the floor during that stretch took the right approach.
“They knew they couldn’t get those eight points with one bucket. They did the little things, waited on screens, rebounded, had several good fitbacks,” she said. “They were a bigger group too, but we did well. I’m proud of them, and that’s what I’m looking for.“
The Mustangs put the game away in the fourth quarter. Ashlynn May finished with a game-high 27 points. Ava Lathem added 16.
Saunders and Thompson led the Bluejackets with 13 points apiece. Saunders knocked down three of her four three-point attempts, and Thompson added two threes of her own. Abby Fountain scored six, Raylee Blackwell had five, and Madisyn Beyers and Gwen Eastridge each finished with three.
Saunders was also given the task of guarding May, New Washington’s top perimeter scorer, which Isom pointed to as one of the positives of the afternoon for them.
“What I liked the most about tonight was I gave Asiah Saunders a job. I gave her a job to guard [May], don’t let her have the ball back,” she said. “There were a few times she kind of forgot because it’s natural to play help defense, and that’s going to happen, but I think being able to add those types of game skills as we go, whether we’re up, down, whatever, those are ways we can build on those if we need them later down the road.”
Mitchell returns to action Tuesday against Eastern Greene, and Isom said the focus will be on defense.
“We’re going to have to step up on the defensive end.” she said. “I just don’t think they truly understand the intensity that the defense at the varsity level takes, and that is something I’m going to continue. I won’t give up on them.”
