Mount Vernon shut down scoring star Haylee Stokes, but it didn’t matter. Her teammates took up the slack and Estherville-Lincoln Central beat the Mustangs 45-37 to reach the Class 3A championship game for the second time in three years.
Top-seeded ELC will try to add to the title it won in 2022 when it plays again at 8 p.m. on Friday, heading into that game with 16 straight victories and a 24-2 record. It got there without a big game from Stokes, who had scored 44 points in a quarterfinal victory over Forest City.
With a defender face guarding her all over the court, Stokes was held without a field goal in the second half. Her only points in the half came on five free throws and she finished with 15, plus seven rebounds and six assists.
But ELC played stout defense throughout and got enough offensive contributions from others to win handily. Rylee Yager scored 14 points, grabbed 11 rebounds and made two steals. She got free for three straight layups early in the second half to stretch ELC’s lead to 34-15 after the Mustangs had pulled to within 13.
Mount Vernon never got closer than the final margin after that even though ELC went 0-for-8 from the field in the fourth quarter.
Hillary Ruschy added 11 points and six rebounds for ELC, which held Mount Vernon to 24 percent shooting in the first half and 29 percent for the game. The 37 points were a season low for the Mustangs.
Courtney Franck and Chloe Meester led Mount Vernon with nine points each and Meester grabbed seven rebounds. Sydney Huber and Peyton Simpson each scored five for the Mustangs.
ELC also reached the 3A championship game in 2013, when it lost to Davenport Assumption. Before the consolidation, Estherville beat Des Moines East for the six-player title in 1982.
Mount Vernon, which qualified for the state tournament for the first time since 2016, finished 22-4. The Mustangs’ three other losses all were to state tourney qualifiers – Clear Creek-Amana, North Linn and Solon.