NORMAL — Down three points in the final seconds of Thursday’s Class 1A girls basketball state semifinal game, Mount Pulaski coach Ryan McVickers decided against using a timeout.
Alyson Murphy made sure that was the correct call.
Murphy, the Hilltoppers’ 5-foot-7 senior, sprinted to the sideline in front of the Mount Pulaski bench following a missed free throw and was waiting. When the pass arrived, she looked at the basket before side-stepping her defender and let the 3-pointer fly.
Swish. Overtime.
“It felt good coming off my hands and I just had to hope and pray that it went in,” Murphy said. “Thankfully, it went in.”
In overtime, Mount Pulaski (33-1) charged out to a five-point lead, held Mount Sterling Brown County without a field goal and won 47-40 at Redbird Arena on the Illinois State University campus to advance to Saturday’s Class 1A state championship game against Deer Creek-Mackinaw (33-3) at 10 a.m. Dee-Mack beat Rockford Christian 48-35 in the other semifinal.
“We’re playing for the state championship, we’re very, very excited,” McVickers said. “Obviously, we had the goal (after losing to Roanoke-Benson in the regional final last year), I could just tell our mindset was, ‘We don’t want to feel that feeling anymore,’ and these girls sitting next to me are just unbelievable. They’re big-time players who make big-time plays. That was the story of this game.”
Murphy led the Hilltoppers with 18 points while Elayna Marten added 14. Mount Pulaski is attempting to win its first girls basketball state championship. Its previous best was a runner-up finish in the 2013 Class 1A state tournament.
Mount Pulaski was at a size disadvantage with the Hornets starting three 6-footers and a 5-10 forward. It showed on the offensive boards, with Brown County holding a 17-12 edge on the offensive glass, but that was in large part due to the Hornets’ 28.8% shooting (16-for-56, including many missed layup opportunities). The Hilltoppers also lost the turnover battle 22-14 and Brown County outscored Mount Pulaski 23-9 off turnovers and had a 24-14 edge on scoring in the paint.
“I was really pleased with how we battled,” Brown County coach David Phelps said. “We were struggling in the first half, we had a lot of opportunities around the bucket. If some of those fall early, I think it’s a different ballgame from the beginning to the end. We had to play from behind the whole game.”
One advantage the Hilltoppers had was their outside shooting. Murphy, Marten and Addison Brown all made two 3-pointers apiece.
Brown County (31-4) battled bac from a 35-30 deficit over the final 5 minutes, 19 seconds of regulation. Maggi Henry’s layup kick-started the Hornets’ 8-0 run, Kenzie Kassing — who played much of the fourth quarter and all of overtime with four personal fouls without fouling out — hit a baseline jumper to get the Hornets within one before Henry put Brown County in front with a three-point play. With 22.4 seconds left, Henry nearly put the Hilltoppers out of reach when she made the first of a pair of free throws.
Nearly.
She missed her second try — a bone of contention for the Hornets, who went 7-for-17 at the line — to allow the Hilltoppers one last chance.
Marten grabbed the rebound and pushed the ball into the Hilltoppers’ frontcourt. McVickers saw the play developing right in front of him and decided against calling a timeout.
“I believed that somebody was going to go make a play,” McVickers said. “I’ve said it all year: Alyson is not going to let us lose. We got the ball up the floor . . . and as soon as I saw we were breaking down the floor, nope (to the timeout), we’re just going to let it fly and she hit it.”
Marten found Murphy, Murphy barely needed any time to survey the defense, took a step to her right and fired for the tie.
“I’ve been practicing more of that in practice,” Murphy said.
Phelps called a timeout with 9.9 seconds left in regulation, but the Audrey Cooper stole the ball and time expired. Cooper opened OT with 3, Brown finished an Olivia Smith assist with a layup before Smith fouled out with 2:31 to go. Henry split a pair of free throws and Smith’s sub, freshman Ella Martin, missed a pair of free throws. Martin had an inbound pass with Mount Pulaski leading by five with 51 seconds left hit the backboard for a turnover. But the freshman had a chance to put all those struggles behind her when she was fouled again with 36.2 seconds left. This time, she coolly sank both chances for a 45-40 lead.
“It was our emphasis from the first time we practiced was to be ready for Mount Pulaski,” Phelps said. “Our goal was to get the ball inside.
“We got what we wanted: we got the ball inside, we rebounded really well — I think on both ends of the floor. Towards the end of the game, it seemed every ball bounced their way.”
Contact Ryan Mahan: 788-1546, ryan.mahan@sj-r.com, Twitter.com/RyanMahanSJR.
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Mountain climbers | Mount Pulaski rally, force OT to win 1A semifinal
Reporting by Ryan Mahan, Springfield State Journal-Register / State Journal-Register
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