Marauders fall in thriller

Mt. Vernon's dream season fell a minute short tonight, as Fort Wayne Concordia hit 67 percent of its shots in the second half and pulled out a 42-39 victory over the Marauders in the Class 3A State Finals tonight at the Hulman Center in Terre Haute.

Jessica Brown scored 17 points -- and factored into all of MV's points in the fourth quarter, scoring nine and dishing two to Anna Olson for a late layup -- but Concordia had an answer for virtually every one, seizing the lead early in the fourth quarter and then keeping the Marauders far enough at arm's length to take the title.

Senior Lauren Marinko scored 17 points for Concordia, and she scored all of the key baskets down the stretch for the Cadets, who won their second title in three years -- beating an HHC team each time. In 2010, Concordia knocked off Rushville in the 3A final.

MV's run ends with a 23-6 record and the first State Finals appearance for the program since 1977. But like that first team 35 years ago, the Marauders took the runner-up trophy.

MV led 30-29 on a Brown jumper early in the fourth, but Concordia's Lauren Marinko -- who scored 15 of her team-high 17 points in the second half -- gave the Cadets the lead back with a layup in traffic, launching a 5-0 run that made it a 34-30 game. Brown scored on a drive on a third-chance rebound and after forcing two straight turnovers, she hit a fast-break jumper from 15 feet to tie the game at 34 with 2:01 remaining. Marinko and Brown each traded two free throws in the next two possessions.

Finally, with 35 seconds left and after two timeouts on the possession, Marinko scored on a drive to give the Cadets a two-point lead. Brown was fouled going to the hoop on the ensuing possession, but split the two free throws, putting MV in must-foul mode. Marinko hit four free throws -- sandwiched in-between an Olson layup -- and Courtney Smith deflected Brown's 3-point shot at the buzzer that would've tied the game to seal it for Concordia.

MV took an early lead and maintained it for much of the first half, with Rachel Houck hitting a big 3-pointer in the final minute of the half to give MV a 16-12 edge going into the break, but Concordia started the third quarter with a 7-0 run -- and hit 9-of-11 shots in the quarter -- to take the lead going into the final eight minutes. 

Brown had 17 points, three steals and two assists for the Marauders. Erica Moore added nine points and four rebounds. Olson had six points and eight rebounds.

Marinko had 17 for Concordia. Breanne Smith came off the bench and hit two big 3-pointers in the third quarter to help the Cadets take the lead. She finished with eight points on 3-of-3 shooting. Courtney Smith had nine points.

Marinko also was awarded the Patricia Roy Mental Attitude Award. 

The game was the final one for Brown, Olson, Makenzi Reasor and Kelsie Owens, who won three county titles, two HHC championships, two sectionals, a regional and a semistate title during their four years -- one of the most decorated classes in county basketball history.

“We had a great year," MV coach Julie Shelton said. "It wasn’t the way we wanted to end it. We battled but we just couldn’t finish. Both teams played very hard. There was great defense. Both teams made runs back and forth but there were never any big leads either way. I thought at the beginning of the third quarter when they hit those three three’s that broke our back a little bit.”