Mount Pulaski wins the Holiday Express Tournament
Grace Davis records a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds

 

[December 22, 2022] The Lady Toppers won the Holiday Express Tournament at Meridian High School on Tuesday night by defeating Warrensburg-Latham 59-43. The margin of victory looks like the win may have come easy, but that was far from the case. Mount Pulaski trailed by as much as 15 points in the second half and rallied in the fourth quarter to pick up the huge win over the Cardinals.

The Lady Toppers trailed 16-10 after the first quarter, with Grace Davis scoring half of those points and Alexis Wade scoring on two baskets. Hailee Daigh chipped in one free throw as the Lady Toppers were just 1-for-6 from the free throw line.

The Lady Toppers could not get much offense going in the second quarter either. Wade tossed in five points and the other two points came from free throws, one each from Daigh and Ella Bobell. The team was a combined 3-for-7 from the line in the second quarter and trailed 27-17 at the half.

A sixteen-point third quarter was an improvement for Mount Pulaski but again the Cardinals held on to a 38-33 lead.

The fourth quarter was a different story. Mount Pulaski put up 26 points and held the Cardinals to just five points.

Murphy and Wade each led Mount Pulaski with 10 points in the fourth quarter. Murphy had two 3s down the stretch and a two-point basket while Wade made one field goal and was a remarkable 8-for-8 from the free throw line. Grace Davis added five points in the fourth quarter comeback, which included going 3-for-4 from the free throw line. A free throw by Je’Na Rentmeister finished the scoring for Mount Pulaski.

The comeback was complete and Mount Pulaski stunned the Cardinals by winning the 2022 Holiday Express Tournament by a final score of 59-43.

Alexis Wade led the Lady Toppers with 22 points and 7 steals. Wade added 5 rebounds and 4 assists to her stat line.

Grace Davis had a double-double for Mount Pulaski. Davis scored 15 points and pulled down 10 rebounds.

Alyson Murphy scored 15 points and also had 7 steals.

Hailee Daigh crashed the boards for 5 rebounds.

Mount Pulaski Coach Ryan McVickers was obviously elated at his team’s comeback championship win, as he knew going in it was going to be a tough battle.

“We got down early and couldn’t get any shots to fall,” said McVickers of the Lady Toppers start. “We only made 4-for-13 from the free throw line in the first half.”

“I told them in the locker room at halftime that we were going to win this game,” continued McVickers. “Warrensburg-Latham did everything right and we couldn’t do anything right and we were only down by ten points.”

McVickers went on to explain, “The second half started the same and they got the lead to as many as 15 points in the third quarter. We called timeout and everything changed! Finally a couple 3s went down, we got to press and our energy level was AMAZING! We kept getting turnovers and finishing. We cut the lead to five points at the end of the third quarter.”

Time for the comeback.

“We started off the fourth quarter with a huge three by Aly (Murphy) followed by a great screen and roll (Wade to Davis) to tie the game,” said McVickers. “From there we didn’t look back. We kept the energy and the pressure on the ball. Then we finished the game the same way we finish every practice ~ by hitting free throws. We were 18-for-21 from the free throw line in the fourth quarter.”

So that’s how Mount Pulaski ended up with a 59-43 win in the championship game.

The Lady Toppers improve to 11-3 on the season.

Congratulations on this huge tournament win, ladies!

It makes for a nice little early Christmas present to yourselves.

The Lady Toppers roll right into another tournament today. The team will play in the Lady Hawks Christmas Classic beginning today in Riverton.

Mount Pulaski plays Hillsboro today at 4:30 p.m. in the tournament that features 16 teams.

Mount Pulaski 59

Wade 22
Davis 15
Murphy 15
Rentmeister 3
Daigh 2
Eskew 1

Warrensburg-Latham 43
Dutcher 14
Camer 10
Southern 9
Hickey 6
Jones 2
Czajkowski 2

[Teena Lowery]