Mustangs ride hustle, defense to seventh straight victory by outrunning Hornets

QUINCY — The best is probably yet to come for the Mendon Unity girls basketball team.

The Mustangs entered the season eyeing a seventh straight winning record.

And?

So far, so good — despite a rough start.

Unity’s 54-22 domination of Atlanta (Mo.) during Tuesday night’s Rumble on the River competition produced the Mustangs’ seventh straight victory and improved their record to 8-4, which becomes more impressive when considering the club’s 1-3 beginning. 

That slow start, however, is about to disappear in the team’s rear-view mirror.

“We started the year with a young team, one that didn’t have a lot of experience, and we played a lot of games early without much time to practice,” Unity coach Cole Thompson said. “We’re still learning to play the quick style we want to, but we’re also playing with a lot of heart and a lot of confidence while we’ve been learning.”

Junior forward/center Kodi Duke exhibited both the heart and confidence her coach spoke about, contributing a 13-point, nine-rebound outing during day two of the week-long 17th edition of the Rumble on the River inside the Student Activity Center on the campus of John Wood Community College. 

Duke earned the game’s MVP honors.

“We’re still growing as a team,” Duke said. “We’ll be where we should be by (the postseason). Everyone is starting to come together after that slow start, but we’re all on the same page now. We just needed some time to play together.”

Unity dominated the game from start to finish on Mountain Dew Court, leading 14-5 at the end of the first quarter. A 9-0 Unity run to open the second half erased any hope Atlanta (3-5) had for a second-half comeback.

Saylor Barry (10), Jillian Shaffer (9) and Chloe Shaffer (9) contributed 28 points for Unity. Barry added eight rebounds as she and Duke led Unity to a 41-28 advantage on the boards.

Thompson feels Unity’s biggest strength to date has been its defense, and the numbers, as they say, do not lie.

“We rely a lot on hustle and defense,” Thompson said.

Unity has held its last seven opponents to 29.7 points per game. Three of those foes have been limited to 26 points or less.

“The girls have also made great strides in confidence,” Thompson said. “I think they are just now beginning to realize what they are capable of doing.”

Atlanta coach Jason White, who also coaches the Atlanta boys team, said it’s a challenge handling both roles. 

“I have to try and separate the two teams (when preparing for games),” he said. “Each team needs to know what it has to do.”

White’s dissection of the loss to Unity was brief and to the point.

“We had too many turnovers and we were ‘outphysicaled,’” he said.