By PAUL T. WILCOXEN

paul.wilcoxen@register-news.com

MARION — Wins have come few and far between this season for the Mt. Vernon Lady Rams, so you can understand the smile that stayed on the face of the entire team from the bench to the locker room after the Lady Rams used a 14-for-15 clip at the free throw line in the fourth quarter for a comeback victory over Marion, 54-48, in a South Seven Conference game inside Cuss Wilson Gymnasium in Marion on Monday.

“It’s been a long time coming,” said Mt. Vernon coach Sara Rennie as her team picked up their first win of 2009. “We had our little losing streak there, but they need some confidence bad and they came out and got it tonight.

“They worked so hard and you can tell by the look on their face they knew it was a winnable game.

“To come to somebody else’s home court is huge for us. We’re just totally excited about the win.”

Mariah Fleming missed her first five shots and scored only two points in the first half, but the second half was a different story as the IUPUI-bound senior went 8-for-8 from the floor in the second half to finish with a game-high 25 points.

“It was like she turned on a switch and went crazy and took her man to the basket,” said Rennie,” which I felt she could do because she had a little bit of a size advantage on her.”

With the win coach Rennie pulls to within a victory of reaching career win No. 600.

Fleming opened the fourth quarter driving to the basket to put the Lady Rams up 34-35, but Marion fought back with six free throws and a steal leading to a lay up by Jasmine Garnett to pull the Lady Wildcats to within one, 34-33, with 4:57 still to play.

“We had to survive a little bit of a momentum change here and there and Marion made that little run there to put that pressure on us and we lost a nine point lead pretty quick,” said Rennie, “but [we] got it back and stretched it out at the free throw line like a good team does. We got the ball in the hands of the people who could make the free throws and that was key right there.”

Fleming hit two free throws at 3:19 to put Mt. Vernon up 28-25, but Ashleigh Rushing countered with a three-pointer to tie the game before picking up a steal and lay up 11 seconds later to give Marion its first lead since the 7:01 mark in the third quarter.

“They’re a good shooting team and we had our hand full with Rushing and [Lindsey] Lenon and their size inside gave us match up problems,” said Rennie.

“It was two teams and both really needed a win and fortunately we were on the up side of that.”

After Marion took a 40-38 lead it was at that point where consistency at the free throw line paid off for Mt. Vernon.

Haley Randolph knocked down two free throws to tie the game, but the Lady Wildcats pulled back in the lead with Ieasha Clark driving to the hoop for the bucket.

Moriah Kirkpatrick tied the game again from the free throw line, but Clark, again, put Marion up with 2:19 to play, 42-40.

“I know this team is struggling, but I know one of the things that’s been consistent is we’re shooting almost 68 percent from the line,” said Rennie. “That’s been our one and only strength so far this season, but we do shoot free throws well and tonight we shot them extremely well. For some reason we do a pretty good job at the free throw line.”

Fleming drove the baseline to tie the game, 44-44, but with 96 seconds left in the game Garnett gathered an offensive rebound off her own missed shot and again put Marion ahead, 46-44.

It was after that basket that Mt. Vernon got the game changing moment they were searching for when Jacquelyn Backstrom hit a shot in the paint and was fouled putting the junior at the line where she knocked down the free throw to give Mt. Vernon a 47-46 lead with 1:23 left in the game.

“We just had some players really step up,” said Rennie. “We played as a team. It wasn’t perfect, but we held it together and got a win at the end.”

Including Backstrom’s free throw after the made basket, Mt. Vernon hit seven straight from the charity stripe to ice the game.

Rushing led Marion with 14 points, while Ronita Long added 12 before fouling out.

Mt. Vernon (3-10, 2-2) will host Cahokia on Thursday.

• Mt. Vernon’s junior varsity team picked up it second victory of the season with a 51-28 win over Marion.

Jessica Green scored 13 points to lead all scores. Cheyenne Piper added 10.