RUSHVILLE — The Lady Lions opened the home portion of their schedule with Mt. Vernon Friday and Plainfield Saturday. In two tight games, the Lady Lions split on the weekend - falling to the Lady Marauders 68-66 and stopping the Lady Quakers 65-56.

The weekend started with a back-and-forth game including 12 lead changes between the Lady Lions and Lady Marauders. Three of those came in the first quarter as the Lady Lions took a 14-11 lead. Back-to-back 3-pointers by Mikayla Dougherty sparked the Lady Lions to the lead at the end of the first eight minutes.

Mid-way through the second quarter, Keragan Niehoff found Sarah Cook for the bucket to give the Lady Lions a 20-19 lead. Rushville was able to push the lead to as much as six points before two free throws by Sydney Shelton cut the deficit to 31-28 at the half.

Rushville began to pull away to start the second half. Kelsi Ash’s rebound bucket pushed the lead to 38-30 and after a Shelton bucket for Mt. Vernon, Cook’s traditional three-point play had the lead at nine points. Erica Moore (game-high 25 points) led the Lady Marauders back as she scored nine straight for Mt. Vernon to make it 44-41. After a Mackenzie Campbell free throw, the Lady Marauders scored six straight points and led 47-46 heading to the fourth quarter.

The lead changed hands five times in the fourth quarter leading up to the final minute of action. A Cook free throw pushed the lead to 63-60 with :40.6 on the clock. Moore’s three-point play tied the game and two Rachel Houck free throws had the Lady Marauders on top by two with :12.3 left.

Both teams hit 3-of-4 free throws in the final seconds, leaving the Lady Lions with a 3-pointer for the win, but it was not to be as the Lady Marauders held on for the 68-66 victory.

Free throws were a key as the Lady Marauders connected on 24-of-29 while the Lady Lions hit 20-of-34.

Cook led the Lady Lions with 23 points. Following Moore’s 25 for Mt. Vernon was Shelton with 21.

Despite scoring just three points in the fourth quarter, the Lady Lion reserves posted a 31-30 victory over Mt. Vernon in the opening game Friday. Makayla Herbert led the Lady Lions with 11 points. Ellie Sammons added seven and Lilly Cramer had six.

The Rushville “C” team defeated Mt. Vernon 33-23. Katie Newbold led the way with 13 points and three rebounds. Katlyn Buckley added nine points and four rebounds. Tori Colestock had six points and 11 boards. Keely Springman finished with three points and five boards. Brooklyn Herbert had two points and four rebounds. Desiree Evener pulled down two rebounds.

Rushville halts Quakers

On Saturday, the fourth quarter was huge for the Lady Lions. Rushville out-scored the Lady Quakers 18-6 in the final eight minutes to rally for the 65-56 victory.

The Lady Lions led after one quarter 13-10. Cook’s 3-pointer gave Rushville its first lead and back-to-back buckets by Dougherty and Niehoff capped the first quarter.

A bucket by Plainfield’s Katie Robertson gave the Lady Quakers an 18-17 lead. Plainfield would not trail the rest of the half. The lead grew to four, but the Lady Lions would not let the Lady Quakers break away. Lilly Cramer free throws tied the game at 27-27 before Plainfield scored the final four points of the half to lead 31-27.

Dougherty’s 3-pointer and two buckets by Campbell had the Lady Lions back in front early in the third quarter. The Lady Quakers retook the lead on a Mackenzie Jeffries bucket and eventually pushed the lead to five at 50-45 on a Robertson score. Cook’s bucket ended the third quarter with the Lady Lions trailing by just three, 50-47.

The charity stripe played a key role in the fourth quarter and the game.

Rushville was sent to the line seven times before the Lady Quakers scored in the fourth quarter. In all, the Lady Lions shot 17 free throws in the final eight minutes. Rushville hit 12 en route to rallying for the victory. On the night, the Lady Lions hit 26-of-40 free throws while the Lady Quakers hit 7-of-12.

Niehoff’s two free throws at the 5:42 mark gave the Lady Lions the 52-50 lead and Campbell’s bucket under the five minute mark had the Lady Lions on top for good.

Campbell led the Lady Lions with 20 points. Niehoff had 17 points and dominated the glass. Cook also chipped in with 14 points.

In the opening game of the night, Rushville scored 17 fourth-quarter points, but could not overcome the large deficit and fell to the Lady Quakers 39-31. Herbert led the Lady Lions with 17 points.

Box scores

Mt. Vernon 68, Rushville 66

Scoring: Mt. Vernon Ð Shelton 5 2 5-8 21, Duff 0 0 4-4 4, Shockley 0 0 2-2

2, Houck 1 0 7-8 9, Moore 10 0 5-6 25, Balbach 2 0 1-1 5, Baugh 1 0 0-0 2.

Totals 19 2 24-29 68. Rushville Ð Dougherty 0 2 0-1 6, Campbell 1 3 5-8

16, Niehoff 3 0 3-6 9, Ash 3 0 1-2 7, Cook 5 1 10-15 23, Yager 1 0 0-0 2, Herbert 1 0 0-0 2, Cramer 0 0 1-2 1. Totals 14 6 20-34 66.

JV game

Scoring: Mt. Vernon (30) Ð Baugh 9, Stricker 2, Case 4, Sandefur 13, York 2. Rushville (31) Ð Koors 2, Sammons 7, B. Niehoff 2, Herbert 11, Cramer 6, Yager 1, Martindale 2.

Rushville 65, Plainfield 56

Scoring: Plainfield Ð Wilson 2 0 0-1 4, Clossin 1 0 0-0 2, Jeffries 1 1 4-4 9, Spears 7 0 0-0 14, Ferrell 5 0 3-5 13, Reeder 1 0 0-1 2, Robertson 2 0 0-1 4, Cowell 3 0 0-0 6, Gillenwater 1 0 0-0 2. Totals 23 1 7-12 56.

Rushville Ð Dougherty 2 1 0-0 7, Campbell 4 0 12-13 20, Niehoff 5 0 7-13 17, Ash 0 0 1-3 1, Cook 6 0 2-2 14, Herbert 1 0 0-0 2, Cramer 0 0 4-8 4.

Totals 18 1 26-40 65.

JV game

Scoring: Plainfield (39) Ð Brock 2, Clossin 6, Wildeman 6, Dostin 3, Ferrell 7, Wheeler 3, Spears 4, Stinnett 4, Sterrett 4. Rushville (31) Ð Koors 2, Sammons 2, Herbert 17, Yager 2, Martindale 3, Woolston 1, Springman 4.

Contact: Aaron Kirchoff at 765-932-2222 ext. 114