COLUMBUS — The game was closer than the final score indicated is a cliche’ rooted in fact, and one the Mount Vernon girls basketball squad lived on Friday night.
The Yellow Jackets fell 53-41 to the Worthington Kilbourne Wolves in a Division II district championship game at the Ohio Exposition Center in Columbus.
Mount Vernon head coach Nathan Short made no excuses for his team.
“I give credit to Killbourne, they are one of the better defensive teams we have faced all year,” Short said. “We prepped for that this week, but it is hard to simulate that energy and effort in practice.”
The first period ended with both teams playing long ball as Mount Vernon’s Isla Graham knocked down a 3-point shot with five seconds remaining in the opening stanza to tie the game at 8-8. But Kilbourne’s Audrey Bennett banked in a shot from near midcourt as the buzzer ended the first period with the Wolves up 11-8.
The Yellow Jackets committed 12 turnovers in the first 16 minutes of the tilt which helped the Wolves to a 10-point lead at the intermission.
Even though the fifth-seeded Jackets came out strong in the third period, it seemed that the miscues from the first half still haunted them. Mount Vernon cut the lead to five 36-31, but could make no further dent and trailed 40-34 by the end of the third stanza.
Short acknowledged that giving the ball away was a contributing factor in the loss.
“We turned the ball over a little bit, and gave too many second chances,” the Yellow Jackets’ boss said. “We have been a second-half team all year.
“They have fought no matter what the situation was and they did that again tonight.”
Mount Vernon was led in scoring by Isla Graham with 13 points. She was the only Yellow Jacket to break into double figures. The Jackets finish the season with an overall record of 18-6.
As he sat the district runner-up trophy on the floor next to his seat, the coach said, “I’m proud of every single one of them.”
The third-seeded Wolves are 19-5 and advance to Tuesday’s Division II Pickerington regional against top-seeded Big Walnut (21-3). The Golden Eagles defeated Canal Winchester 48-38 in their district title game.