Mount Pulaski comes back to defeat Williamsville 61-52

[February 02, 2022] The Lady Toppers hosted Williamsville on Monday night and put a hold on the Bullets’ opportunity to earn their 20th win of the season. Mount Pulaski poured in 31 points in the fourth quarter to come from behind and earn the 61-52 win.

Mount Pulaski played a really good first half and with Haliee Daigh and Je’na Rentmeister each sinking two threes, the Lady Toppers were able to take a 15-11 lead in the first quarter.

The Lady Toppers put together a respectable second quarter, too. The ten points added here included another three from Rentmeister and a three from Grace Davis. Mount Pulaski led Williamsville 25-20 at the half. 

The Lady Toppers struggled in the third quarter, scoring just five points. Makenzi Chandler’s three and a field goal by Alexis Wade was all the offense for Mount Pulaski. Meanwhile, the Bullets shot the lights out and poured in 16 points to take over the lead. At the end of the third quarter, Mount Pulaski found themselves down 36-30.

But hang on for an exciting fourth quarter! 

Mount Pulaski battled back to tie the game 39-39 on a three by Grace Davis at the 5:55 mark. The game would be knotted again 41-41 and the fans were in a frenzy. The Bullets would take a 43-41 lead but then it was Daigh with a three to earn the lead back for the Lady Toppers. After the Bullets went ahead on two free throws, Wade sank two shots herself from the free throw line and Mount Pulaski captured a 46-45 lead for a moment. With 3:16 left to play the Bullets would jump in front 47-46. Ten seconds later it was Davis hitting another three and the Lady Toppers were back on top 49-47. A steal and layup by Daigh less than ten seconds later led to a 51-47 Lady Toppers lead. Daigh added a free throw at the 2:28 mark and Mount Pulaski was up 52-47. Great defense by the Lady Toppers had the Bullets out of sync and missing shots. With Mount Pulaski pulling away and time running out for Williamsville, the Bullets were forced to foul repeatedly down the stretch. Over the next minute, the Lady Toppers duo of Wade and Daigh combined to go 6-for-6 from the free throw line and this put Mount Pulaski out front 58-47. The Bullets would finally score with 1:15 left in the game, ending the 12-0 run by Mount Pulaski. But what a run by the Lady Toppers against a fantastic team from Williamsville. In the final seconds Mount Pulaski would hit a trio of free throws and after a Bullets miss at the buzzer, the final score flashed Mount Pulaski 61 and Williamsville 52. 

It was a great game, with each team providing exciting moments for their fans. The Lady Toppers did extremely well handling the pressure down the stretch by the Bullets, who were the 2022 Sangamon County Basketball Champs. 

Mount Pulaski’s Head Coach Ryan McVickers was his usual excited self after the win and he offered some keys to the game. 

“I think we were up by five points at the half and then Williamsville came out and they went straight man-to-man and we just couldn’t hit shots,” said McVickers. “I mean credit to them, they played the whole first half in a 2-3 zone and they came out in the second half and played us man-to-man. We were just shell-shocked for a while. I think we only scored five points in the third quarter, but then oh, what a fourth quarter. What we told the girls was we just needed to spread their players out, because they were probably three inches bigger than us at every single position. So we just needed to beat them off the dribble. And it worked. We finally hit our shots.”

A real game-changer was the three hit by Grace Davis to finally bring the Lady Toppers back in the fourth quarter. Davis’ three set the score at 39-39 with 5:55 remaining and from that moment on, even though Williamsville would hold a tiny lead again for a split second, the momentum was on Mount Pulaski’s side.

“Once we start hitting threes, then they have to run at us hard and then they can’t keep us in front of them,” said McVickers. “So we were just trying to work the ball and get open looks. ‘Cause we don’t miss open shots. We’ve got some great shooters on this team and as long as we just keep working, keep moving, keep going….you probably hear me yell, “Keep goin’, keep goin’!” That just means to keep moving the ball and we will find that mismatch of who we are going to beat off the dribble. And finally in the fourth quarter, we did it. And it was beautiful to watch. Just another exciting game in the ol’ Ed Butkovich Gymnasium. I hope we can keep it rolling.” 

McVickers also explained why this game was circled on the schedule for Mount Pulaski. 

“Of course, being a former Bullet,” said McVickers, “This one is always big for me. And, of course, Dad (Assistant Coach Carey McVickers) coached there for 30 years. So this one is always big for us.” 

It was also just fun basketball to watch. Davis, a sophomore, even noted she got chills when she made that three to tie the game. 

Alexis Wade led all scorers with 22 points. Hailee Daigh had 17 points, 9 steals and 5 assists. Grace Davis had 9 points and 9 rebounds. 

Mount Pulaski improved to 23-5 on the season.

Williamsville falls to 19-7 on the season.

The Bullets won the JV game 37-31. Ella Bobell led Mount Pulaski with 11 points. 

Varsity scoring 

Mount Pulaski 61 

Wade 22

Daigh 17

Davis 9

Rentmeister 9

Chandler 3

X. Turner 1

Williamsville 52

M. Roberts 21

Gleason 12

Phillips 7

Miller 5

Henrikson 5

N. Roberts 2

JV scoring

Mount Pulaski 31

Bobell 11

Eskew 7

Chandler 6

Jones 3

C. Davis 3

Charron 1

Williamsville 37

Henrikson 18

Olysav 9

Dasher 4

Roberts 4

[Teena Lowery]