Mallory Chicone is one of those players who isn’t afraid of pressure situations.
Earlier this week in practice, the junior guard from Mentor asked for the ball to shoot a free throw to end practice. Make it and practice is over. Miss it and both her and her teammates had to run sprints.
She made it.
So when pressure situations presented themselves Mentor’s game at West Geauga on Jan. 4, Chicone wanted to ball.
Again, she delivered, making 8 of 8 free throws in the fourth quarter to lead the Cardinal to a 57-49 win over the Wolverines in a battle of two News-Herald Top of the Crop teams.
Chicone scored a team-high 19 points for the Cardinals, who not only improved to 5-6, but also handed West Geauga (9-2) its second loss of the eason.
“I think putting myself in pressure situations is good,” Chicone said. “When I hit the first one, I had confidence. Sophia Stouffer hit some big ones, too. I just came through when I had to.”
Chicone’s clutch free throws helped Mentor pull out a victory that looked like it was going to be a stunning defeat. Down, 39-21, early in the third, the Wolverines went on a 21-2 run to take a 43-42 lead early in the fourth.
PHOTOS: West Geauga vs. Mentor girls basketball, Jan. 4, 2023
After having no answers in the third and seeing its big lead evaporate, the Cardinals had all the answers down the stretch.
“We just kinda ran out of gas there,” West G coach Brandon Stewart said.
It was a 45-43 West G lead midway through the fourth when Alexa Hocevar (team-high 18 points) scored a three-point play off a dish from Maggie Furst. Chicone made two free throws to knot it at 45-45.
But that’s as good as it got for the host Wolverines. Kylie Maxwell scored in transition off a Chicone steal, freshman Nina Rodriguez faked a pass and hit a soft jumper and then two free throws each by Chicone and Stouffer completed an 8-1 run from which the Wolverines couldn’t recover.
After going 1-for-6 from the charity stripe through three quarters, Mentor was 10-for-10 in the fourth.
“Our youth really showed there (in the third quarter),” Mentor coach James Hrusovsky said. “I’m extremely proud of them for not packing it in in the fourth quarter and handling some adversity.
“We talked about free throws over winter break. We weren’t shooting as well as we would have liked. We did a lot of running over break if we missed free throws. Maybe that helped. It was nice to see us knocking down shots. no doubt.”
The narrow loss stung the Wolverines, but Stewart said he was proud of his team’s comeback. When Chicone hit a 3 as part of a 5-0 run to start the third quarter, Mentor had a 39-21 lead. But for the next quarter, West G continuously whittled away at the deficit.
Maggie Furst scored six points during the spurt to get her team back in the game. Hocevar hit four free throws, drained a deep 3 and also dished out a trio of nifty assists during the run that turned an 18-point deficit into a 42-41 lead when Ottman scored on a steal and pass from Ashlyn Drayer.
“It was a great effort by us to come back,” Stewart said. “That’s a tough (Mentor) team with some good kids on it and they’re deep. I think that gave us some issues, but we never stopped battling.”
Aside from Hocevar’s 18, Furst had 13 for the Wolverines. West Geauga hosts Perry on Jan. 6.
Chicone was joined in double figures by Rodriguez (12) and Maxwell (11). Mentor travels to Euclid on Jan. 7, then to Riverside on Jan. 9.
