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 Three of the Lady Toppers are fresh off the volleyball court
after earning a second-place state finish, and their competitive
spirit has flowed right over to the hardwood.
Seniors Jessica Awe and Erika Leever, along with sophomore
Whitney Nichols, make up that trifecta. When you factor in three
more seniors in Andrea Dickerson, Emily Johnston and Kendra
Willoughby, who all have tremendous varsity experience on their
resumes, you have veteran leadership at its finest.
Add a couple of more players off the bench in 5-foot-3 sophomore Alec
Hayes and 5-foot-11 freshman Lily Pickett, and you have a pretty
dangerous lineup.
Leading this explosive team is coach Eric Leever, who is in his
fifth season with the Lady Toppers. Leever seems pretty
pleased with his team so far this season. Off to a quick seven wins and
only two losses, Leever says he feels the team is getting
better.
"We are playing with a better intensity now and we are
getting in better shape," he said.
The team also placed third in the
Thanksgiving Tournament to open the season. And just last week when
the state rankings came out for the Class 1A girls basketball poll,
Mount Pulaski found itself ranked No. 12.
Judging by the desire to win that the Lady Toppers have showed
thus far in the early season, it's safe to say they will not be
satisfied resting there.
Now fast-forward to Monday evening's game in Mount Pulaski, where the
Lady Toppers took on Midwest Central.
The first-quarter action was all about speed. Thanks to several
steals and layups, the score was quickly 16-4 in favor of the Lady
Toppers. Midwest Central caught on quickly to the running game and
put the ball through the hoop as well, fighting back to only a 21-16 deficit to the Lady Toppers at the end of the first quarter.
Midwest Central was able to slow down the Lady Toppers a little
bit in the second quarter and hold them to 13 points. But the Lady
Toppers do not like to be outdone on defense either, as they held the
Lady Raiders to 11 points in the second quarter.
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With a halftime score of 34-27 in favor of Mount Pulaski, both teams
needed that break to catch a breath. When the game
resumed, both teams were once again off and running. Taking the ball to the
basket, Mount Pulaski jumped to a 47-35 lead in the third quarter.
Despite a tough battle, Midwest Central just could not catch Mount
Pulaski. The Lady Raiders tried stopping the clock with fouls late
in the fourth quarter, but both Jessica Awe and Erika Leever managed
to sink those free throws as well.
By the time the buzzer sounded and bodies had been picked up off
the floor, Mount Pulaski had earned the 60-44 win.
Jessica Awe led the
team with 20 points, and Andrea Dickerson chipped in 17. Erika Leever tallied 14 points, and rounding out the scoring was Whitney
Nichols with nine points.
The Lady Toppers' next game is Thursday night
at 6:15 at Buffalo Tri-City.
And, a big announcement concerning one of the Lady Toppers
was made by Principal Terry Morgan at Monday night's game.
Five-foot-10
senior forward/guard Andrea Dickerson has verbally committed to play
basketball at Murray State University in Kentucky.
Dickerson had spoken with the Murray State coach by phone on
Friday evening, and later that night she surprised her mom with the
news. Friday was her mom's birthday, and she decided to place a note
in the bottom of her mom's birthday gift bag.
The note read: "11/30/12 at 5:59 p.m. I committed to play at
Murray State University."
Congratulations to Andrea Dickerson and her mom, Amy Rainey, and
her dad, David Dickerson.
[By TEENA LOWERY] |
