NEOSHO, Mo. — Mount Vernon’s girls basketball team remained undefeated on the season with a convincing 71-32 non-conference victory at Neosho on Tuesday night.
Grant Berendt’s Mountaineers improved to 6-0.
The 1-2 punch of Lacy Stokes and Ellie Johnston once again led the Mountaineers, as the senior guard tandem combined for 48 points. Stokes scored 25 points and Johnston added 23.
Johnston scored 14 points in the first half, with 11 in the opening period. Stokes had 10 in the first half.
A Missouri Southern recruit, the 5-foot-6 Stokes also had 12 rebounds.
Neosho fell to 5-2. Senior guard Olivia Hixson scored 13 points for the Wildcats, while sophomore Karlie Ellick scored nine points and sophomore Baylie Bowers had four points.
The Mountaineers scored the first 12 points of the game, with Johnston scoring eight. The Wildcats had five early turnovers against Mount Vernon’s full-court pressure.
Stokes scored a pair of hoops late in the first quarter, and the visitors led 21-7 entering the second period.
The 6-foot-1 Ellick scored all nine of her points in the second quarter, trimming Neosho’s halftime deficit to 33-22.
But Mount Vernon began the third period on a 19-3 run to put the game away.
Hixson scored seven points late in the third quarter, but the Wildcats trailed by 24 points heading into the final frame. Neosho did not score in the fourth quarter.
The Wildcats will compete at the Weaubleau Tournament beginning on Dec. 28.
