Mount Pulaski sweeps Athens on history-making night 

~ Lady Toppers clinch the Tomahawk Conference for the first time in school history  

 

[February 11, 2022] The 2021-22 Lady Toppers girls basketball team made their mark in school history on Thursday night as they became the first girls team to win the Tomahawk Conference. Mount Pulaski finished the regular season on top with a 5-0 record. When the boys win the Tomahawk Conference, there is a traveling trophy that the boys get to claim and have their picture taken with for future reference. Sadly, there is no traveling trophy for the girls. 

Someone will have to get on the ball there. It’s 2022 and not only do girls play sports, but they excel at sports!

On the court the Lady Toppers let their play do the talking and with the Athens Warriors riding a five-game winning streak, both teams were really up for the exciting matchup in the Ed Butkovich Gymnasium. 

Mount Pulaski stormed out to a 15-7 first quarter lead as Alexis Wade scored eight points, Hailee Daigh tossed in four points and Mackenzi Chandler hit a three. 

Wade led the way in the second quarter with five points and with Grace Davis and Xzandria Turner each scoring a basket, the Lady Toppers held a 24-17 lead at the half.

Isabella Wade, right, sits next to legendary coach Carey McVickers, left, as the Lady Toppers hold a firm lead at the end of the game with Athens.

Riley May’s six points in the third quarter helped the Lady Toppers to a 34-26 lead. Wade also chipped in four more points in the quarter.

There was no lack of excitement in the fourth quarter, as the battle between these two teams was intense. The Warriors made it a close game near the end of the quarter, but Mount Pulaski used clutch free throw shooting in the final minutes to seal the 43-35 win. 

At one point, Assistant Coach Carey McVickers turned to the scorer’s table and asked, “Teams that miss free throws and dogs that chase cars, what do they have in common?” Pause. “They both don’t last long,” he said. 

Mount Pulaski was led on this historic night by Alexis Wade with 23 points. 

The Lady Toppers improved to 26-5 on the season and 5-0 in the Tomahawk Conference. 

The Lady Toppers JV team also won their final home game of the season and it was a thriller in overtime versus the Warriors. The Warriors controlled the entire first three quarters of the game.

Mount Pulaski was down 6-0 after the first quarter and even trailed 14-4 at the half. Mackenzi Chandler made the only Mount Pulaski buckets in the entire first half. 

The Warriors were cruising with a 19-7 third quarter lead. Summer Eskew provided a three, the only offense of the quarter, for Mount Pulaski. 

However, the Lady Toppers shut out the Warriors in the final quarter and tied the game 19-19 to send it into overtime. Abby Jones and Ella Bobell each made threes for the Lady Toppers in the fourth quarter. Chandler added six points, including two clutch free throws down the stretch to send the game into overtime. 

In overtime, the Warriors won the tip and took a 21-19 lead on a layup. The Lady Toppers took over after that. Chandler made the only field goal for Mount Pulaski and the Lady Toppers relied on free throws to earn the win. Kamrie Charron was 3-for-4 from the line in overtime. Ella Bobell and Chandler each made a free throw. Playing with determination, Mount Pulaski was able to secure the 26-21 win. 

The Lady Toppers JV team finished the season with an 8-6 record.

After the win, JV Coach Isabella Wade was very proud of her team and explained the turnaround.

"We started out pretty slow,” said Wade. “I think we came out a little bit intimidated. We knew that they were going to be fast and we knew that they were going to be tall. At halftime the girls were kind of hanging their heads and I was like, ‘Hey, this is your last game. Go out not regretting anything, just put it all out there and have fun with it.’ So in the second half our team was a completely different team. In the third quarter we were starting to get momentum and by the fourth quarter I was like, ‘We’re gonna take ‘em.’ We just kept going and going and those girls fought their hearts out. I could not be more proud of those girls and they went home so happy and that makes me happy.” 

After clinching the Tomahawk Conference, the first topic Varsity Coach Ryan McVickers wanted to address was that of his JV coach and her team. “First I want to talk about this girl right here,” he said, as Wade stood nearby, smiling. “Oh my gosh, amazing season, amazing coach. After this game I said, ‘Well you did all the hard work, you came back from ten points down. We had the lead the whole (Varsity) game. So I go into the locker room to do my speech with about three minutes left in the JV game and they are down eight and I come back out with like thirty seconds left, and I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, we’ve got the lead!’ So I missed all that great coaching, but she’s been phenomenal all year. She’s got those JV girls always ready to go. They are always prepared. And they are going to be ready for me next year. She’s doing a great, great job.”
 

As far as the Tomahawk Championship, after much research, McVickers concluded this has to be the first time in school history that a girls basketball team has won the conference. The only team in school history that would have had a chance was the 2012-13 state runner-up team. Even they lost in the regular season to Illini Bluffs that year before upsetting the Tigers in the Sectional Championship. 

“You know, one of our goals at the beginning of the season was winning the conference,” said McVickers. “When I first set that goal, I didn’t realize it was going to be the first time ever. So it just one of those things that we started checking off as we beat conference teams like Illini Bluffs. And as we checked teams off our list, it was just more of a goal.” 

Wade chimed in with, “We are also 9-0 at home this season. Not one single home loss.” 

“That’s right,” added McVickers. “We are 9-0 at home this season, so we protect our house, too. Which is awesome.”

So with win no. 9 at home being a pretty physical matchup, no one went to the ER but there was plenty of blood on the court from Grace Davis, McVickers went on to talk about the game. 

“Athens came in and we knew that they were going to be physical,” he said. “We knew that they were gonna play just a tough man-to-man defense. That’s what we got. We told the girls they were going to have to be extra strong with the ball today. They didn’t have their big girl last year. She had a torn ACL. She probably had at least ten offensive rebounds and some stick backs against us, but in the second half “Stat Man Steve” said we only gave up three offensive rebounds. So that’s the difference right there. And that was really the key to the game.” 

“Hopefully we can ride this high and make a run,” added McVickers, as he rolled into mentioning the Lady Toppers postseason begins next week. 

The Lady Toppers (No. 1 seed) open regional play on Monday, February 14, 2022 at 6 p.m. at Cerro Gordo. Mount Pulaski will play the winner of the De-Land Weldon versus Decatur LSA matchup that takes place on Saturday.  

Congratulations, Lady Toppers!

Varsity scoring

Mount Pulaski 43

Wade 23

May 7

Davis 4

Daigh 4

Chandler 3

X. Turner 2

Athens 35

Bryant 10

Purchis 9

E. Westervelt 5

Laird 4

Jacoby 3

Oredina 2

Baker 2

JV scoring 

Mount Pulaski 26

Chandler 13

Bobell 4

Charron 3

Eskew 3

Jones 3

Athens 21

E. Westervelt 9

Laird 5

Lane 3

Jacoby 2

Womble 2

[Teena Lowery]