For Mullen, the game plan was to attack the basket. More specifically, penetrating into the lane. That meant going after Fossil Ridge’s Jocelyn Fox, a 6-foot-2 junior center.
She wasn’t just an imposing defensive threat, but an offensive one as well. Yet once the host Mustangs figured that out, Saturday’s 62-39 win in the second round of the Class 4A girls basketball tournament virtually was assured. Getting to that point, however, took awhile.
Once Mullen (17-7), the third seed in the Brenda House Region, countered Fox’s presence with an aggressive approach on offense and a defensive rotation that packed the paint, any advantage the sixth-seeded SaberCats had was negated.
“We did not want to play the half-court set,” Mullen coach Frank Cawley said. “We did a good job of playing 94 feet.”
Mullen will play second-seeded Montrose, a 53-42 winner over Alamosa, in the Sweet 16 on Friday.
Turnovers and missed shots, according to Fossil Ridge coach Shannon Randles, made all the difference. The SaberCats (15-10) turned the ball over 24 times and shot just 20 percent from the field.
“Yeah, their size, length of arms, was a factor,” Randles said. “I don’t think we were as focused as we should’ve been.”
Fox, who along with Gabs Lucero scored a team-high 13 points for Fossil Ridge, scored her team’s first seven points en route to a 14-7 lead. The game appeared to be taking a similar path as the SaberCats’ first-round victory over Thomas Jefferson where Fossil Ridge scored 10 of the game’s first 12 points and led by 22 at halftime.
But Mullen, a four-time 4A state champion, eventually took away Fox’s size in the middle. The Mustangs rallied from the seven-point deficit with a 17-1 run over the final 9 minutes, 56 seconds of the first half, including 16 straight points, to lead 24-15 at the break. Fossil Ridge went more than 11 minutes between the first and third quarters without a basket before Fox’s second of three 3-pointers cut Mullen’s lead to 25-18 early in the third.
“Holding them to one point in the second quarter, I couldn’t have written a better script,” Cawley said.
Laura Palmere led Mullen with a game-high 21 points.
Fossil Ridge 14 1 10 14 — 39
Mullen 13 11 13 25 — 62
Fossil Ridge — Heikes 0 1-2 1, Fox 3 4-4 13, Willer 0 1-1 1, Ambriz 0 0-2 0, Lucero 4 4-4 13, Brashear 0 4-6 4, Benshoof 2 2-4 7. Totals 9 16-23 39.
Mullen — Palmere 7 6-8 21, Thompson 5 1-2 12, Burt 3 4-6 10, Watson 2 1-3 5, Curneen 0 2-2 2, Holligan 0 1-2 1, Kormondy 2 7-8 11. Totals 19 22-31 62.
3-point goals — Fox 3, Lucero, Benshoof; Palmere, Thompson.
