Mount Vernon is masterful in a 3A girls’ state basketball first-round rout of Harlan

DES MOINES — Nate Sanderson’s biggest fear, he said, was the first four minutes.

“Would we be jittery?” he wondered. “Would we be nervous? Would we be tight?

Nope. Nope. Nopety-nope-nope.

Fourth-ranked Mount Vernon played loose, free and brilliantly, smoking No. 6 Harlan, 67-25, in a Class 3A quarterfinal at the girls’ state basketball tournament Monday night at Wells Fargo Arena.

“That was something else,” Peyton Simpson said, aptly. “It was a lot different from what I expected.”

Yeah, you think 4-vs.-6, you think nail-biter. This wasn’t.

Now that the Mustangs (22-3) navigated that “first four,” let’s ponder “final four,” shall we?

Mount Vernon will face No. 1 Estherville-Lincoln Central in a 3A semifinal at 1 p.m. Thursday. ELC (23-2) defeated No. 12 Forest City, 61-47, Monday.

Bottle Monday’s performance, and it could be quite a memorable week.

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The Mustangs set a 3A record (in the current five-class format) with 14 3-pointers, in 24 attempts. They connected on 56 percent of their field-goal attempts (25 of 45).

And they held Harlan (20-4) to 9-of-44 shooting (20.5 percent).

Simply, they were superior. Far superior.

“We had an awesome first half,” Sydney Huber said. “All of our shots, it seemed, were going down.”

Mount Vernon led from start to finish, but it was competitive for a while. At 14-10, Eryn Jackson drilled a 3-pointer, the first snowflake in what quickly became a howling blizzard.

Four different Mustangs hit five 3-pointers in the second quarter, and it was 40-15 at intermission.

The one-sided-ness carried into the second half, of which the Mustangs scored the first 15 points. From 14-10 to 55-15, and a continuous clock in the process ... that’s a 41-5 ambush.

“We played really free,” said Sanderson, who has overseen a drastic three-year transformation in this program; Mount Vernon was 1-21 in the season before his arrival.

“We talk about taking good shots. We had 16 assists. We had four in double-figures. We had (two) turnovers in the first half. It’s a testament to the kids.”

Huber led the Mustangs with 14 points. Simpson tallied 13. Taylor Franck added 12. Meester counted 11 points, 10 rebounds and five blocks. Jackson hit 3 of 4 from long range off the bench and supplied nine points.

Meester has committed to play volleyball at the University of Louisville. She considered hanging up her basketball sneakers after her freshman year, then reconsidered.

“Everybody encouraged me to stay with it, and I’m really glad I did,” she said.

She’s not the only one.

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Photos: Mount Vernon vs. Harlan in Class 3A girls’ state basketball quarterfinals

Mount Vernon 67, Harlan 25

Class 3A State Quarterfinal, at Des Moines

HARLAN (25): Hannah Sonderman 2-6 0-0 5, Molly Swensen 1-5 0-0 3, Aubrey Schwieso 2-11 2-2 7, Ava Monson 2-8 0-0 6, Erica Rust 1-10 0-2 2, Kara Kenkel 0-0 0-0 0, Lauren Schmitz 0-0 0-0 0, Grace Albertsen 0-1 0-0 0, Brinley Van Baale 0-0 0-0 0, Addison Wicks 0-0 0-0 0, Kate Koesters 0-0 0-0 0, Kenzley Bruck 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 9-44 2-4 25.

MOUNT VERNON (67): Courtney Franck 1-3 0-0 2, Taylor Franck 5-7 0-0 12, Chloe Meester 4-6 3-3 11, Sydney Huber 5-13 0-0 14, Peyton Simpson 5-9 0-0 13, Alivia Truitt 1-1 0-0 3, Lillian Wischmeyer 0-0 0-0 0, Eryn Jackson 3-4 0-0 9, Lucy Wischmeyer 0-0 0-0 0, Sophia Meester 0-0 0-0 0, Josie Niehaus 1-2 0-0 3, Brynley Rasmussen 0-0 0-0 0, Rylee Rasmussen 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 25-45 3-3 67.

Harlan 10 5 6 4 — 25

Mount Vernon 17 23 18 9 — 67

3-point goals: Harlan 5-22 (Sonderman 1-4, Swensen 1-5, Schwieso 1-7, Monson 2-6), Mount Vernon 14-24 (C. Franck 0-1, T. Franck 2-3, Huber 4-8, Simpson 3-6, Truitt 1-1, Jackson 3-4, Niehaus 1-1). Team fouls: Harlan 8, Mount Vernon 6. Fouled out: none. Rebounds: Harlan 23 (Rust 7), Mount Vernon 33 (Meester 10). Assists: Harlan 5 (five with 1), Mount Vernon 16 (C. Franck 5). Steals: Harlan 8 (Monson, Rust 2), Mount Vernon 9 (C. Meester, Lillian Wischmeyer 2). Turnovers: Harlan 14, Mount Vernon 10.

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com