MOUNT VERNON, Mo. — Led by dynamic senior point guard Lacy Stokes, top-seeded Mount Vernon scored 42 unanswered points over three quarters and cruised to an 84-23 victory over third-seeded Seneca in the championship game of the Class 4 District 12 girls basketball tournament on Saturday afternoon.
The lopsided win gave Mount Vernon its fifth consecutive district championship.
“The kids know the streak is there and they don’t want to be the team to not make it happen,” Mount Vernon coach Grant Berendt said. “It’s a special group. It’s always special to win one, but when you can put a string of them together it’s even more special.”
Stokes poured in 30 points, making eight 2-pointers and four 3-pointers to go along with two free throws.
“Lacy is a special player,” Berendt said. “She’s the quarterback of our defense. She sets the table for us offensively. She’s just hard to guard. I’m glad she’s on our team.”
Stokes and classmate Ellie Johnston have helped the program capture district titles in four straight years now.
“We got a big win over Clever last year and we wanted to carry that over to this year,” Stokes said. “We knew we were going to be even better this year with all the experience.”
After the game, Stokes and Johnston were informed they’ve now won exactly 100 games during their prep careers.
“It means everything,” said Stokes, a Missouri Southern-signee who surpassed 2,000 career points on Thursday. “I’ve played with her since I was little. Everybody has been talking to us since we were little, ‘You guys are going to do it in high school.’ We did it. We’re doing what we want to do. Now, we just want to finish out with a state championship.”
“I think I’ve been a part of 70 of those,” Berendt said. “They are special kids.”
Clicking on all cylinders, the Mountaineers blitzed the Indians from the start.
Shooting well from the floor while also converting steals into turnovers again and again, Mount Vernon put together a dominant stretch of basketball, a 42-0 run to be exact, to blow the game open.
“Our goal is to come out and really set the tone on the defensive end,” Berendt said. “I thought we got a few things early offensively that helped us get going. And then we put the clamps down. In order to do that, it takes everyone. We played all eight kids today and all eight kids made a huge impact. It was just a great job by them.”
Winners of 12 straight games, Mount Vernon (25-3) will play at Ava (21-5) at 6 on Wednesday night in a sectional clash of the state tourney.
Stokes noted the Mountaineers still have work to do.
“We want to win a state championship,” Stokes said. “We’re not done yet. I’m not satisfied with my senior year yet. It’s game by game…one at a time. Right now, we’re looking at Ava.”
GAME RECAP
A 9-0 surge gave Mount Vernon an early 14-2 lead.
“We like to start games off making sure teams will remember us,” Stokes said. “We don’t want to give anyone hope in the beginning. Any team that has hope sometimes can pull it off in the end.”
A trey from Aliya Grotjohn cut Seneca’s deficit to 19-6 late in the first quarter. Mount Vernon led 24-6 at the end of the opening frame.
The Mountaineers outscored the Indians 28-0 in the second period.
Seneca went more than 12 minutes of game time without a point.
Spanning the end of the first period and the entire second quarter, the Mountaineers scored the final 33 points of the first half and led 52-5 at intermission. Stokes had 21 points in the opening half.
The hosts then scored the first nine points of the third period to go up 61-6.
NAMES & NUMBERS
Every Mountaineer scored in the game.
In addition to Stokes’ 30 points, sophomore Allie Schubert added 13 points for Mount Vernon, while Johnston scored 11 and junior Cameryn Cassity had nine.
A junior guard, Grotjohn scored 10 points to lead Seneca. The visitors were limited to four field goals through three quarters before recording five more in the final frame.
Seneca advanced to the title game by knocking off No. 2 seed Aurora 66-53 on Thursday. The Houn’ Dawgs had beaten the Indians twice during the regular season.
The Indians (13-15) graduate Makayla French, but will return the rest of the roster next season.
NEW SECTIONAL OPPONENT
In every year from 2017-20, the Mountaineers ran into perennial power Strafford in the sectional round. And each time the Indians knocked off the Mountaineers on their way to a state title.
This year, Mount Vernon will meet Ava with a spot in the quarterfinals on the line.
“Ava is a very talented team,” Berendt said. “They have some big wins under their belt. They’ve beaten state-ranked Hollister. They start four sophomores and a junior. They’re athletic and they’re playing very well right now. We’re just glad we get three more days of practice together and we’ll have another opportunity to play. Hopefully we can keep this going for awhile.”
