Mount Pulaski Lady Hilltoppers open season in tough overtime loss to Porta

[November 15, 2016]  The Lady Hilltoppers fell in overtime to Porta 44-39 in the opening game of the Turkey Tussle.

This is the 3rd Annual Turkey Tussle hosted by Clinton High School with the games taking place in both Clinton and Riverton. Mount Pulaski will play back in Riverton Thursday night and then switch to Clinton for games on Friday and Saturday.

In Monday night’s opening game Mount Pulaski fell behind the Lady Jays 7-4 at the end of the first quarter, but the scrappy bunch from the hilltop came fighting back.

Skylar Hayes tied the score at seven apiece with her three to open the second quarter scoring. The entire second quarter was back and forth between the two teams.

Shelby Bailey’s two free throws knotted the score at nine.

Then Morgan May’s bucket off the offensive rebound tied the score at eleven.
Finally Hayes would give Mount Pulaski their first lead on a three, 14-13, but that was short-lived.

Megan Price, a senior who needs just eight more points to hit 1,000 career points, nailed a three to put Porta up 16-14.

A free throw from Bailey rounded out the first half scoring and the Hilltoppers were only down 16-15 heading into the locker room.

The third quarter saw Mount Pulaski jump out to a lead on two free throws from Hayes, then it was Taylor Danner and Megan Price with back to back buckets for the Lady Jays.

Freshman Isabella Wade is surrounded by Lady Jays Monday night during the Turkey Tussle.

The lead kept changing hands, as Isabella Wade hit a nice jump shot in the lane and then Hayes went coast to coast following a steal by Mount Pulaski. The score rested momentarily at 21-20 with Mount Pulaski in the lead.

A layup from Price, who finished the night leading all scorers with 33 points, gave Porta the lead back, 22-21 but then it was Mount Pulaski’s turn again.

Hailey Moore stole the ball and quickly found Hayes, who in turn spotted an open Wade running down court. A nice toss to Wade resulted in a smooth layup and once again Mount Pulaski was up, 23-22 this time.

Porta tied the score yet again on a free throw by Brooklyn Kessler, then Price finished out the third quarter scoring with a bucket and Porta could boast a slim lead, 25-23 at the end of three quarters of play.

Price wasted no time driving the lane for Porta to start the fourth quarter and extend the lead.

However, a young Wade, a freshman to be precise, quickly answered back with not just one, but two buckets. The latter being a nice soft jumper in the lane that tied the score 27-27 with 6:24 left to play.

Senior Ashley Houser’s shot in the lane was good for Mount Pulaski Monday night and gave the Lady Hilltoppers a brief lead.

Despite a few too many turnovers to mention along this stretch from both teams, Mount Pulaski managed to settle down and capture the lead again on Hayes’ jumper in the lane. A layup by Hayes then allowed Mount Pulaski to maintain the lead, despite Porta’s scoring machine Price. Ashley Houser’s two points in the lane kept the lead for Mount Pulaski and after Hayes sank two free throws at the 2:09 mark, the Lady Hilltoppers were on top 35-31.

Izeyar Lincoln’s fierce offensive rebound and the putback that rattled the rim and fell in kept the Lady Jays’ hopes alive.

Then with just under two minutes to play, Price fouled May and sent the sophomore to the line shooting two. May came up huge with two buckets here and the Mount Pulaski lead looked good, 37-33 with 1:38 to play.

Price would get an opportunity at the line herself seconds later, after a foul called on Hayes, and the two points here were pretty much a sure thing.

Mount Pulaski held onto the lead, 37-35 with just under a minute to play and the ball in the hands of the Lady Hilltoppers. But not for long. Ouch. Another turnover and this one really hurt. Danner took the ball and ran with it. Her layup tied the game at 37-37.

Mount Pulaski had a chance to reclaim the lead on a lob into the lane to Wade, but a missed shot and no foul called, allowed the ball to end up in the hands of Porta.

Porta would run time off the clock, but not exactly a great idea with a speedy Hayes nearby reading the passes. Hayes stole the ball and with the clock running down quickly, she just missed the layup to win the game at the buzzer. To overtime the two teams go.

Price gave Porta the first lead here on a couple “givens.” It’s a given if she gets to the free throw line, she’s going to give her team a couple points. She did.

But on the other end, May would tie the score again, 39-39, as she banked one in on the assist from Hayes.

With around 2:00 minutes left in overtime, everything from turnovers to illegal screens to a player fouling out to missed opportunities happened. And for both teams.

As the game time was nearing two hours, both teams were running out of gas. In the final minute though it was Porta with enough steam to squeak out the hard-fought win, 44-39.

One player who never ran out of gas was Porta’s Price. She scored all seven overtime points for the Lady Jays.

Hayes finished with 20 points for Mount Pulaski.

The loss was obviously a tough one for Mount Pulaski but Coach Leever’s 2016-17 squad is definitely young, scrappy and well, let’s throw in hungry, too. The young and scrappy part was truly evident Monday night and after about two hours of hustle that saw the Lady Hilltoppers come up just shy of a victory, it’s safe to say these ladies are hungry.

Leever puts a “pretty young team” out there on the court with only two seniors on the team and he admitted following the game that maybe the team had a “little first game jitters.”

"We had so many opportunities to put that game away,” Leever said following the loss. "We made some poor decisions. We were giving up numerous second and third shot opportunities and we weren’t boxing out. We are not a big team. We want to be a one and done. We get the ball out in transition and we really didn’t have that opportunity tonight.”

While sophomore Skylar Hayes did score 20 points, it was clear there were a few missed shots that she would have liked to have had a second chance at.

Nonetheless, it was the first game of the season and there is a lot to work on for the young team. Freshman Isabella Wade handled herself very well on the court and even chipped in 8 points. “All in all, she gets better everyday,” said Leever of Wade, the freshman ball handler. "Her knowledge of the game is great. So that alone I think is going to help her out. We threw a lot on her plate. She’s 14 playing against kids 16, 17, 18 year olds. She’s got a great shot. She just needs to keep her confidence up and be confident in taking that shot and attacking the basket. In practice she attacks the basket really well off the dribble. I would have liked to have seen her do that a little bit more tonight. Then if she gets picked up, we are dumping back off and maybe finishing with the assist at that point.”

Leever was also very pleased with the players who came off the bench. Everyone contributed in one way or another, and Leever likes having that depth to pull from. The coach will definitely have things to focus on in practice these next two days.

"All in all we’ve got a lot to learn from tonight,” said Leever. "Too many second and third opportunities and unforced turnovers tonight just killed us.”

Mount Pulaski will take on Riverton Thursday night at 7:30 p.m.

Mount Pulaski scoring

Hayes 20
Wade 8
May 6
Bailey 3
Houser 2

Porta scoring

Price 33
Danner 8
Lincoln 2
Kesler 1

[Teena Lowery]