Mount Pulaski defeats LeRoy on Senior Night

~ Junior Alexis Wade scores her 1,000th career point

[January 25, 2022] The Lady Toppers hosted LeRoy on Monday night and with a packed house on hand to cheer them on, Mount Pulaski defeated the Panthers 47-28.

Mount Pulaski raced out to a 12-2 first quarter lead. By halftime the Lady Toppers had a 25-10 lead. 

Junior Alexis Wade had 11 points at halftime and needed just one more basket to reach 1,000. She would do it in the third quarter. 

Wade scored her 1,000th career point with 5:10 showing on the third quarter clock. She drove the middle of the lane, around a couple defenders, and tossed up a perfect bank shot to make the score 34-10. The game was stopped momentarily so the crowd and Wade’s teammates and coaches could recognize her achievement. Once the game resumed, the Lady Toppers were back to conducting business. The third quarter ended with Mount Pulaski on top 37-21.

The Lady Toppers breezed through the fourth quarter with Haliee Daigh nailing two threes down the stretch and adding another basket to lead Mount Pulaski in scoring. 

The Lady Toppers won by a final score of 47-28.  

Hailee Daigh was the leading scorer on the night with 20 points.

A win on Senior Night is always a bonus in front of a nice home crowd. Prior to the Varsity tip-off, the Lady Toppers honored seniors Riley May, Clarissa Turner and Xzandria Turner at center court.

Mount Pulaski Coach Ryan McVickers was particularly pumped after the game, which saw the Lady Toppers reach 20 wins on the season, and he offered some nice comments about his three seniors.

Coach Ryan McVickers explains the game to his Lady Toppers plan during a time-out.

“These seniors come in every single day ready to practice and they play so hard in games,” said McVickers. “This is only my second year here but these seniors have bought in from day one what we are trying to do. They play hard and do everything that they are supposed to do. These seniors have had three different coaches throughout their career and these past two years they have played their butts off and I could not be any more proud of them.”

Alexis Wade finished the game with 15 points and 7 assists and as the newest member of the 1,000th point club, McVickers was quick to praise Wade for her all-around basketball talent. 

“Oh my goodness, Alexis Wade,” began McVickers with a smile, “For her to get her 1,000th point as a junior and with a shortened season last year, what an incredible accomplishment. That just shows her ability. And then, too, she just doesn’t look to score. She plays defense. She’s the point of our press. Not only that, she’s the point guard, so she’s the one having assists and moving the ball around and I just can’t say enough about her. She does it all.”

MPHS seniors Riley May, Xzandria Turner and Clarissa Turner were honored before the Lady Toppers game versus Leroy.

And she did it all last night in front of lots of young eyes watching. The Mount Pulaski Honeybears 7th and 8th grade state teams were recognized at halftime of the Varsity game. The future of Mount Pulaski basketball is very bright.

Flashing back to the JV game, Mount Pulaski defeated LeRoy 23-12. Kamrie Charron led the Lady Toppers with 11 points. 

Mount Pulaski improved to 20-4 on the season.

The Lady Toppers will play at Argenta-Oreana tonight. The JV will start at 6 p.m. and the Varsity will start at 7:30 p.m.

Congratulations to Alexis Wade on scoring her 1,000th point!

Varsity scoring

Mount Pulaski 47

Daigh 20

Wade 15

May 9

Charron 2

X. Turner 1

LeRoy 28

Warlow 12

Bogema 6

Loy 3

Swanson 2

Cox 2

Buchles 2

Spratt 1

JV scoring

Mount Pulaski 23

Charron 11

Jones 6

Bobell 3

Eskew 3

LeRoy 12

Menneya 5

Edgington 4

Stuepfert 2

Lons 1

[Teena Lowery]