Von Ruden Leads Mount Everett in Win Over Mounties

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. -- The Mount Everett girls basketball team Tuesday night asked a lot of junior Madeline von Ruden.

 

And she gave a lot in a 54-38 win over Mount Greylock as the Eagles won their third straight and improved to 7-6 this season.

 

Von Ruden scored 16 of her game-high 18 points in the first half and helped Mount Everett lead by as many as 26 early in the fourth quarter.

 

She scored 12 in the second quarter alone -- including six on 3-pointers -- as she helped Mount Everett take advantage of what the Mounties were allowing.

 

“We’ve been trying to get her to come out of her shell,” Mount Everett coach Scott Rote said. “This is a game where … we knew they were going to try to do a triangle-and-two on Gwen [Carpenter] and Madison [Ullrich].’

 

Carpenter, Mount Everett’s all-time leading scorer, averages 19 points per game; Ullrich pours in 12 points per night.

 

“I said to Madeline, you and Marion have got to step up,” Rote said. “Marion, you have to bring the energy and momentum you had at the end of the Lenox game into the start here. And Madeline, we’ve got to have you step up and take control because if you start running the floor and get a couple of those open breaks …

 

“And their shooting tonight -- she’s been shooting well in practice, but she put on a little bit of a clinic for herself tonight.”

 

It was a 15-9 Mount Everett lead when von Ruden knocked down her first 3-pointer midway through the second quarter, sparking a 15-2 run.

 

After she pulled down a defensive rebound at the other end, Carpenter (16 points) hit her first triple to give the Eagles their first double-digit lead, 21-9.

 

Following a Mount Greylock timeout, Ciera Schwarzer hit a jumper from the left wing for two of her team-high 10 points, but Mount Everett scored the next nine to take command.

 

First, Mackenzie Ullrich set up von Ruden for a 3-pointer. Then Madison Ullrich scored in the post. Carpenter set up von Ruden for a bucket in transition, and Carpenter capped the run with a transition basket of her own to make it 30-11.

 

At the other end of the floor, the Eagles held Mount Greylock leading scorer Madison Ross scoreless in the first half. She went on to score four in the third quarter. Delaney Babcock scored seven and Brook Masse and Emma Stevens added six apiece for the Mounties. 

 

“We knew we had to watch [Ross] and make sure we didn’t let her get us in the open court,” Rote said. “When our first five were out there, we were trying to play a packed-in 3-2 and not give any middle cuts. That’s what most teams are trying to do against us; we wanted take away the slash and try to control her. She didn’t really get any good looks from the outside, and she tried to penetrate a couple of times but couldn’t get there.

 

“I think our back side of that 3-2 did a nice job.”

 

Offensively, Carpenter did a good job distributing the ball, passing out five assists. Madison Ullrich and Devoti scored nine and eight, respectively, as the Eagles got all their points from their starting five on a night when they each were able to avoid picking up a third foul.

 

“What’s going to happen is, people are going to want to focus on Gwen too much,” Rote said. “We do have the other weapons. Madison [Ullrich] and Mackenzie [Ullrich] -- that first five, now we’ve proven that any of them can score and win games for us.”

 

Mount Everett is home against Lenox on Thursday.

 

Mount Greylock (4-7) plays Palmer on Saturday morning in the first game of the Coaches vs. Cancer showcase at Hoosac Valley High School.