The Tri-Valley Mustangs hosted the Mt Vernon/Plankinton Titans in a doubleheader on Thursday, January 6th. The Titans got a win in both games. They won the girls game 64-37, and the Titan boys won 40-31.
Mt Vernon/Plankinton 64, Tri-Valley 37 – Girls
With about three minutes to go in the first quarter, the game was tied at 13-13. Mt Vernon/Plankinton then went on a 23-0 run over the next eight minutes. The Titans finished the first quarter leading 24-13. The run continued into the second quarter and was finally snapped with three minutes to go in the half. The Titans led 38-19 at halftime. Mt Vernon/Plankinton continued to shoot the ball well in the second half and played strong defense. The Titans grew their lead to 56-28 by the end of the third quarter.
Tri-Valley shot 35% (16-46) in the game, 16% (3-19) on three pointers, and was 2-6 from the free-throw line. The Titans, meanwhile, shot 48% (26-54), 7-10 from three-point area, and 5-10 from the free-throw line.
Paige Jewett had 14 points and three assists. Ava Pearson finished with eight points, seven rebounds, and three blocked shots. Lauren Grinde added six points, four rebounds, and two assists. Stephanie Buchmann had five points, three rebounds, and two assists.
Mt Vernon/Plankinton 40, Tri-Valley 31 – Boys
The boys game was very physical throughout the entire contest. The physical play caused problems for both offenses as the two teams both finished shooting under 30% in the game. The Mustangs held the lead through three quarters of play. Tri-Valley led 11-8 at the end of the first quarter and then 22-18 at halftime. The Titans tied the game 25-25 with 4:00 to go in the third quarter, but Tri-Valley held a 29-28 advantage heading into the fourth quarter. Unfortunately, that’s when the Mustangs went cold offensively. They made only one field goal in the last quarter, which came with just :50 to play.
The Mustangs shot 23% (12-52) from the field, 25% (5-20) from three-point area, and just 2-5 from the free-throw line. The Titans took advantage of their trips to the free-throw line as almost half of their points in the game were scored from there. Mt Vernon/Plankinton finished the game shooting 28% (11-40) from the field, did not make a three-pointer, but went 18-31 from the free-throw line.
Lance DeWitt had eight points, four rebounds, and four assists. Riley Carlson finished with eight points and two steals. Cole Focken also tied for the team-high eight points and also had a steal. Owen Besmer had four points, five rebounds, and two blocks. Brayden Oyen had three points and seven rebounds. Connor Christensen had a team-high 11 rebounds.
