Mullen’s girls basketball team has had four head coaches with four different philosophies in four years, but one thing remains consistent – winning.
Frank Cawley took over the team just weeks before the season started, and after a wild, 52-38 Centennial League home victory against surprising Overland on Wednesday night, the Mustangs have high hopes.
“One of our goals is to win the Centennial League, which we’ve only done once, in 2001,” Cawley said.
Mullen, No. 3 in The Denver Post/9News Class 4A poll, improved to 11-2 overall and stayed perfect at 5-0 in an otherwise 5A league. The Mustangs have gone 72-21 over the past four seasons, and they won three consecutive 4A titles from 2000-02.
Against Overland, Kathleen Majewski led all scorers with 13 points, Meghan Hurley finished with 10 points and Lauren Webb had eight.
With two athletic, fast-paced teams on the floor, a 7-3 score after one quarter was not expected. But the pace accelerated, and Mullen took a 20-15 lead into the locker room at halftime.
“We had a slow first half, and it seemed like we were in a daze or something. But we played really good defense, and that kept us in the game,” Majewski said.
Mullen took control in the third quarter by outscoring the Trailblazers 17-11.
“It was a very, very physical game on both teams’ parts. But we could run with them. We didn’t back down,” Hurley said.
The name of Overland’s game is running. The Blazers, No. 9 in 5A, started the season 10-0 and now stand at 12-2 overall, 3-2 in league. They won 16 games total the past three seasons.
But the past is the past, and Overland is focused on the present. Three points in the first quarter, however, is not part of the plan.
“In most of our games, we usually come out hard. I don’t know what happened tonight,” Overland sophomore Sharee Goodlow said. “I think we can run with Mullen, we just had an off game. We’ll get ’em back.”
Overland 3 12 11 12 – 38
Mullen 7 13 17 15 – 52
Overland – Henegan 1 2-5 4, Everett 2 1-2 5, Lekahal 1 0-0 3, C. DeMichelis 3 2-4 8, G. DeMichelis 3 2-4 8, Lindsay 0 0-0 0, Goodlow 4 0-0 8, Hamm 0 0-0 0, Marshal 1 0-0 2, Khan 0 0-0 0. Totals 15 7-15 38.
Mullen – Hurley 5 0-3 10, Maynard 2 2-2 6, Webb 4 0-0 8, Majewski 5 1-1 13, Halliburton 2 0-0 4, Holley 3 0-0 6, Wagner 2 0-0 5, Wilhelm 0 0-0 0, Erdle 0 0-0 0, Watson 0 0-0 0, Crump 0 0-0 0, Palmere 0 0-0 0. Totals 23 3-6 52.
3-pt. goals – Lekahal; Majewski 2, Wagner. Total fouls – Overland 15; Mullen 14. Fouled out – C. DeMichelis. Technicals – None.
