MOUNT VERNON — For two girls basketball programs that have had more than their share of struggles in recent years, Wednesday’s Wesco 4A play-in game to the district tournament between Mariner and Mount Vernon was an opportunity to show they were both on the path to turning that around.
The Bulldogs were the winners, hanging on for a thrilling 39-37 victory, but both teams made it clear that brighter days are ahead.
“I think it’s a good stepping stone for our program,” Mount Vernon head coach Marielle Hinderman said. “There are some of the younger girls, sixth, seventh and eighth graders that were here watching. For them to see us rise up in a tough situation I think was a good lesson for them. An exciting atmosphere like this will hopefully get more girls to come and try out and stick with basketball and hopefully build our program for the future.”
Mount Vernon takes the sixth seed into the district tournament and will travel to Monroe for a 7:45 game on Thursday night.
Mariner misses out on an opportunity to play in the postseason, but after winning just one game in the previous two seasons combined, head coach Corey Gibb is looking forward to the future.
“We’re headed in the right direction,” Gibb said. “We added some young talent and I’m hoping that other players see that and they set their game up to match what those girls did and then it will keep some of the kids that are supposed to be at Mariner at Mariner.”
The young talent Gibb was referring to is led by freshmen Denisa Grebovic and Hannah Hezekiah. Grebovic struggled offensively on Wednesday, but Hezekiah picked up the slack scoring 31 of her team’s 37 points. Her performance was all the more impressive given that the coaching staff was concerned that she had suffered a significant knee injury in Tuesday’s loss to Jackson.
Hezekiah played with a knee brace, but it didn’t seem to hinder her performance.
“We didn’t know this morning if she’d be able to play,” Gibb said. “She’s a gamer. She wants to be on the floor. You can’t fault a kid for wanting to play. It just shows the kind of heart that she has and the kind of determination she has to go out and perform and help her team in any way she can.”
Mariner led throughout most of the first half, but Mount Vernon battled back to take a lead in the third quarter. The Bulldogs extended that lead to as many as nine in the fourth quarter, but two 3s by Hezekiah got the Marauders to within two before time ran out.
She kept her team in the game late, but struggled in the early parts of the final period.
“Our gameplan was to try to eliminate the time the ball was spent in (Hezekiah) and (Grebovic’s) hands because they are their top two scorers,” Hinderman said. “We wanted to pressure them all night long and get them tired. In the end, (Hezekiah) missed some free throws that she normally doesn’t and some shots that she normally doesn’t.
“She’s impressive and I think her and Joscelynn (Evans) are going to have quite the career competing against each other for the next few years.”
Evans, a freshman for Mount Vernon, led her team with 15 points.
After the game, Gibb made sure his team knew it accomplished a lot, despite missing out on districts.
“I told them, ‘not everyone gets to play bonus basketball,’ Gibb said. “’Not everyone gets to play a 21st game. We took care of the things we needed to take care of the past two weeks to put ourselves in that position.’
“I couldn’t be more proud of the way that they played,” he added. “They did something that we haven’t done in a very long time and they should be proud of that. They should hold their heads up high.”
At Mount Vernon H.S.
Mariner 13 9 4 11 —37
Mount Vernon 8 14 9 8 —39
Mariner—Denisa Grebovic 3, Carlita Vilchez 0, Emily Saga 0, Kateleen Setrick 0, Hannah Hezekiah 31, Zaira Rubio 0, Payten Redwood 0, Tanya Kochergina 3. Mount Vernon—Mattie Janes 2, Jenna Moores 3, Allison Marken 8, Sam Silver 0, Brenyn Hart 0, Joscelynn Evans 15, Brittany Munson 2, Abigail Brown 9. 3-point goals—Grebovic 1, Hezekiah 6, Kochergina 1, Evans 1. Records—Mariner 3-12 league, 4-17 overall. Mount Vernon 4-11, 7-14.
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