116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
The climb is complete: Mount Vernon captures the Class 3A girls’ basketball championship
Mustangs clamp down on Dubuque Wahlert in a 47-36 triumph
Mar. 7, 2025 11:16 pm, Updated: Mar. 8, 2025 9:27 am
The Gazette offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
DES MOINES — The climb is complete.
Four years ago: One win.
And now? Last one standing.
All-tournament captain Sydney Huber scored 24 points, locked down on Dubuque Wahlert’s Claire Lueken and led top-ranked Mount Vernon to the Class 3A girls’ basketball championship, 47-36, Friday night at Wells Fargo Arena.
“Pretty satisfying,” Coach Nate Sanderson said after putting the finishing touches on a 26-1 season. “This journey ... to come here and build this program ... so many people invested and bought into the process.
“It’s a gift to be grateful for, to coach these kids.”
Mount Vernon was dynamite defensively all week. The Mustangs held their three state-tournament opponents to 19, 34 and 36 points.
Friday, they held No. 2 Wahlert (21-5) to 23-percent shooting (13 of 57).
This sort of moment seemed far-fetched not so long ago. The year before Sanderson’s arrival, Mount Vernon was 1-20.
Then came 12-11, then 16-8. The Mustangs were 22-4 and 3A semifinalists last year.
Now, they’re heading back to Southeast Linn County with a wooden trophy, sparkly tiaras and pink T-shirts.
“We knew this was a possibility,” Courtney Franck said. “We had the talent to do it, we were going to work our butts off to do it, and here we are.”
“Just an amazing, unreal feeling,” Huber said. “We worked all season for this.”
Huber played a remarkable game on both ends of the floor. The Evansville signee was 5-for-5 from the floor (2-for-2 from long range) in a 12-point first quarter.
“I just wanted to come out strong,” she said. “I was getting some good looks, and my teammates were finding me.”
She finished 9-of-13. She also drew the defensive assignment on Lueken, and aced it.
The Wahlert star was 2-of-15 from the field. Her 10 points was about half of her season average, and she didn’t score until the 1:14 mark of the second quarter.
“Sydney had Lueken all night, and she was unreal,” Sanderson said.
Huber’s eight-point run gave Mount Vernon a 10-5 lead, and the Mustangs played from ahead the rest of the game.
It was 22-15 at halftime, then the margin swelled to 12 points on two occasions before Wahlert made a brief push.
Three-pointers by Claire King and Lucy Lueken got the Golden Eagles within 38-32 with 5:20 remaining.
Huber hit a pair of free throws, then added a 3-point dagger to make it 43-32 with 3:59 left.
Franck and freshman Savanna Wright joined Huber on the all-tournament team, along with Claire Lueken, Williamsburg’s Carly Rich and Estherville-Lincoln Central’s Haylee Stokes.
A dynamic guard, Wright was the final piece to the championship puzzle.
“I didn’t know what my role would be as a freshman,” she said. “But this feels like something I’ve dreamed of. Our motto was ‘one more day,’ and we wanted to keep winning until we got to this point.”
Wright scored six points. So did both Franck twins (Courtney and Taylor). Courtney snagged 12 rebounds.
Mount Vernon also captured the 2A championship in 2010.
Friday’s outcome meant that five different Wamac schools have won titles in the last eight years. The Mustangs followed Marion (2018, 4A), Center Point-Urbana (2019, 3A), Clear Creek Amana (2024, 4A) and Solon (2024, 3A).
Mount Vernon 47, Dubuque Wahlert 36
Class 3A State Championship, at Des Moines
DUBUQUE WAHLERT (36): Claire King 3-9 0-0 7, Olivia Donovan 4-8 0-0 9, Caroline Freed 1-7 0-0 3, Ruth Tauber 2-10 0-0 4, Claire Lueken 2-15 4-4 10, Lucy Lueken 1-8 0-0 3, Myla Breithaupt 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 13-57 4-4 36.
MOUNT VERNON (47): Savanna Wright 1-7 4-4 6, Taylor Franck 3-10 0-2 6, Chloe Meester 2-5 1-1 5, Courtney Franck 3-5 0-0 6, Sydney Huber 9-13 3-3 24, Eryn Jackson 0-0 0-0 0, Rylee Rasmussen 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 18-40 8-10 47.
Dubuque Wahlert 10 5 11 10 — 36
Mount Vernon 14 8 14 11 — 47
3-point goals: Wahlert 6-28 (King 1-3, Donovan 1-1, Freed 1-5, Tauber 0-6, C. Lueken 2-8, L. Lueken 1-5), Mount Vernon 3-10 (Wright 0-4, T. Franck 0-1, Huber 3-5). Team fouls: Wahlert 15, Mount Vernon 5. Fouled out: none. Rebounds: Wahlert 35 (Donovan 13), Mount Vernon 32 (C. Franck 12). Assists: Wahlert 6 (Donovan 3), Mount Vernon 7 (C. Franck 3). Steals: Wahlert 8 (C. Lueken 4), Mount Vernon 3 (Wright 2). Turnovers: Wahlert 7, Mount Vernon 12.
Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com
Daily Newsletters