Mount Pulaski Honeybears bring home third place in the 2018 seventh Grade Class 1A State Tournament

[December 08, 2018]  The Mount Pulaski Honeybears defeated the Annawan Braves 28-25 to earn the third place trophy in the 2018 seventh Grade Class 1A State Tournament on Thursday night in Assumption.

Mount Pulaski led the game 5-2 in the first quarter after a three by Mackenzi Chandler broke the tie ballgame. The Honeybears never lost the lead in the game, but it did get a little too close for comfort at the end. Mount Pulaski extended the lead to 8-3 in the second quarter after Kamrie Charron put back the offensive rebound and was fouled on the play. Charron sank the “and one” for Mount Pulaski. Grace Davis gave Mount Pulaski a 10-6 lead with her field goal. A minute or so later after Davis was fouled, she would sink her two free throws and the Honeybears were in charge 12-6. With 4.0 seconds left until halftime Alyson Murphy came up big for Mount Pulaski and hit a basket to give the Honeybears a 14-6 lead going into the locker room.

That's a final as MP Coach Jamie Anderson talks to the Honeybears in the postgame huddle.

Annawan scored six unanswered points to start the third quarter. Finally at the 3:07 mark Chandler stole the ball for Mount Pulaski and her hustle resulted in the first two points of the quarter for the Honeybears. The Mount Pulaski lead was 16-12. It was Chandler taking control again as she launched a three with 1:22 on the third quarter clock. Her basket was huge for Mount Pulaski and the lead was now 19-13. Davis would finish out the third quarter scoring with a free throw and a 20-15 Mount Pulaski lead.

Davis extended the Mount Pulaski lead to 22-15 on a baseline drive early in the fourth quarter. Olivia Goodley then pulled Annawan closer with her basket. These Braves were not giving up. Lowery stole the ball from Davis at mid-court and her basket made the score 22-19 with less than four minutes to play. At the 3:24 mark it would be Murphy rattling the rim for the Honeybears and proving as a 5th grader she was ready to come up even bigger in tight game situations. Murphy’s jumper gave Mount Pulaski the confidence they needed and a 24-19 lead.

With just under two minutes to play the Braves had their own little package of dynamite in number 12. Bella VanOpdorp hit a field goal to bring Annawan within two points, 24-22 now the score and the Mount Pulaski fans were a little anxious. Davis would come up big for the Honeybears following a Mount Pulaski steal. It was Davis in the lane and off the glass for MP that allowed the Honeybears a 26-22 lead at the 1:15 mark.

Honeybears ready and waiting the awards ceremony.

A quick steal by Murphy with less than a minute to play was a game changer and with Ella Bobell waiting in the corner, the momentum was in Mount Pulaski’s favor. Bobell hit a jumper, nothing but net, right in front of the MP student section and the fans went nuts. 28-22 was the Honeybears lead. Elaina Manuel would score the last basket for Annawan with 29.0 seconds remaining. The Braves did have one last chance to tie the game with a three but missed. Chandler dribbled the ball with the clock running down and just like that the Honeybears hung on for the 28-25 win and a third place trophy.

Mackenzi Chandler led Mount Pulaski with 10 points and Grace Davis tossed in 9 points.

Mount Pulaski ends their season with a 25-3 record. Annawan ends their season with a 24-5 record.

Mount Pulaski coach Jamie Anderson was proud of his team following the win. “Honestly, when we started the season, I didn’t know what to expect. I knew we had some good talent and you know you always hope that you can make it to this part of the season. The girls, they didn’t disappoint. We had a really solid season. I think we finished 25-3 and two of those losses were to WLB and then another loss to Ottawa Wallace. Finishing third and losing to the top two teams in the state, that’s not too shabby. I am super-excited this is the first third place finish for girls Honeybear basketball. Up until last night we had only had eight state berths in school history, now we are up to nine.”

The Mount Pulaski 8th grade team plays at State versus WLB on Saturday.

"I thought the girls did really well,” continued Anderson. “I was very pleased. They’ve worked hard all this season. They’ve been a real joy to coach and to work with. They’ve really been a lot of fun and I can still say that after my 15th season of coaching.”

Finally Anderson added, “The crowd was awesome. We had the best 6th man tonight!”

Final scoring
Mount Pulaski 28	Annawan 25
Chandler 10 Davis 9 Murphy 4 Charron 3 Bobell 2	Vance 6 Manuel 6 Goodley 6 Celus 5 VanOpdorp 2

[Teena Lowery]