Mount Pulaski Lady Toppers fall in overtime to Riverton
 

[November 18, 2016]  Mount Pulaski fell to Riverton's Lady Hawks in overtime 51-38 at Thursday night’s Turkey Tussle.

Mount Pulaski is now 0-2 in overtime games to start the season.

The Lady Hilltoppers had a 17-10 lead at halftime, but as Coach Eric Leever put it, “We were just out hustled tonight.” Riverton came out of the locker room reenergized and went on a tear as Mount Pulaski fans sat and watched their lead quickly disappear.

Chloe Babbs tied the score at 19 apiece after she launched a three with 4:20 on the clock in the third quarter.

Skylar Hayes answered back with a three of her own to give Mount Pulaski the lead back. Hayes extended the lead on a layup after a beautiful pass down court from Fikirte Mott and Mount Pulaski looked alive again with the lead, 24-19.

Senior Ashley Houser padded the lead with her nothing but net jumper for two with just under :30 seconds to play in the third and just like that Mount Pulaski was up 26-19.

Sophomore Macy Lingleo knocked the wind out of Mount Pulaski’s sails a little bit with her long three with :02 seconds left that closed the gap, 26-22.

Mount Pulaski played solid to start the fourth quarter with Morgan May stepping up to connect on a couple free throws and then muscling up under the basket for two points to extend the Lady Hilltoppers lead to 30-25.

Mount Pulaski’s Shelby Bailey connects for two points in the fourth quarter in Thursday night’s game versus Riverton in the Turkey Tussle.

Shelby Bailey’s jumper just inside the lane with 2:10 left to play in the game gave Mount Pulaski a 32-27 lead.

Mount Pulaski was looking good at this point but then the foul trouble set in. May fouled Mackenzie Payne following a basket and for May it was her fifth of the night. The sophomore had to take a seat, leaving a big hole to be filled on the court.

Then Babbs stole the ball midcourt from Bailey and the Lady Hawks were off and running. Bailey made sure Babbs missed the shot but Babbs made both free throws and the Mount Pulaski lead was a slim 32-31 with 1:31 left to play.

But then Riverton’s Addie Pals fouled Mott on her drive to the basket and Mott very calmly tossed in two free throws to extend the late game lead, 34-31.

With just around a minute to play, Lingleo missed a three attempt and the ball was rebounded by Mount Pulaski, but then quickly went out of bounds off the purple.

Once the ball was back in the hands of the home team, Emma Aylesworth was called for a quick foul that allowed Kady Reavis to sink two free throws for Riverton and the small but mighty loud Lady Hawks cheering section was on their feet.


With the score 34-33 now, Mount Pulaski began to panic. Turnovers, fouls and timeouts ensued and with 33.6 seconds on the clock Pals hit two free throws for Riverton to give them the lead, 35-34.

Mount Pulaski’s Skylar Hayes tosses up a shot in Thursday night’s game at Riverton. Hayes finished with 18 points in the tough overtime loss.

Hayes got one more shot at the charity stripe for Mount Pulaski and she sank one of two free throws to tie the game at 35 apiece as 23 seconds rested on the clock.

Riverton missed a last shot attempt and as the buzzer sounded, with the score knotted at 35-35, to overtime we go.

The momentum of the Lady Hawks carried over into the overtime in a big way. Within the first 30 seconds of overtime Riverton had ran off seven quick points that left Mount Pulaski stunned.

Finally Isabella Wade stopped and popped for two points for Mount Pulaski, but still the Lady Hilltoppers were down 43-37 at the 2:00 minute mark.

Emily Wakeman added to the Hilltoppers woes when she fouled out around the 1:00 minute mark with the score 46-38 in favor of the Lady Hawks.

Not to count out the rest of the Lady Hawks team, but it was Babbs and Pals combining to score 16 points in overtime to dominate Mount Pulaski and come away with the 51-38 victory. Pals lead the way for the Lady Hawks with 22 points while Babbs chipped in 15 points in the win.

For Mount Pulaski Hayes led the way with 18 points and both May and Houser contributed 6 points apiece.

Mount Pulaski will continue action in the Turkey Tussle this weekend, however they will switch to Clinton High School for the remaining games.

Tonight Mount Pulaski plays Olympia at 7:30 p.m. and tomorrow the Lady Hilltoppers meet Decatur LSA at 4 p.m.

Mount Pulaski scoring

Hayes 18
Houser 6
May 6
Wade 2
Wakeman 2
Mott 2
Bailey 2

Riverton scoring

Pals 22
Babbs 16
Lingleo 6
Atkins 3
Reavis 3
Payne 2

[Teena Lowery]