LAPEL — The Lapel girls basketball team survived an overtime scare from the visiting Pendleton Heights Arabians to win 63-59 on Tuesday, Jan. 15
With two minutes left in the game, the Bulldogs had a 10-point lead, and a series of fouls, turnovers and missed rebounds gave the Arabians the opportunity they needed.
With the score 51-44, Arabian Leonie Wilson hit a 3-pointer.
Bulldog Kylie Rich fouled Arabian Kylie Davis. Davis hit the first of a one-and-one bringing the score to 51-48.
Pendleton Heights then got the rebound and set Wilson up for another trey. She sank the shot, tying the game at 51 with 30 seconds remaining.
The Bulldogs took the lead again from the free-throw line, and Page Rich stole the Arabian inbound.
She was fouled and hit one to give the Bulldogs a 54-51 lead and a little breathing room with just a few seconds remaining.
Or so everyone thought.
“When kids are put in that situation, you never know how they’re going to react,” Bulldog coach Zach Newby said. “That’s a good team (Pendleton), and they put a lot of pressure on us.”
When the Arabians couldn’t get the ball inbounds, they called a timeout. This time they got the ball in, and Kailyn Graham sank a 3-pointer at the buzzer to send the game into overtime.
Graham had 23 points for the game.
Pendleton Heights led twice in OT, but baskets by Delany Peoples and free throws by Kylie Rich at the end gave the Bulldogs their 13th win of the season.
While Newby said he wished they could have finished the game in regulation, the pressure and experience of a such game is a good learning experience especially right before tournament time.
“There’s going to be crunch time situations and we need to know what to do.”
Despite the loss, Arabian coach Chad Cook was optimistic.
“I think the girls showed a lot of heart and competitive,” Cook said. “We hit a few shots late and stayed competitive. You want to go ahead and win when you hit a shot like that, but we just didn’t play good enough today.”
The Bulldogs had jumped out to a 16-6 first-quarter lead, but the Arabians closed the gap and went into the halftime break down 23-22, helped by Mills’ 9-point first-half scoring.
Lapel was without ball handler and scorer Morgan Knepp, who sprained an ankle in a 52-45 overtime loss to Shenandoah Jan. 10.
And while the Arabians have had to deal with injuries all season long, they also had to push through fatigue as they had played Rushville the night before in a make-up game from the weekend postponement.
The Arabians won 55-49.
“You could tell by the way we started the game, going back-to-back games when you’re only six deep, it’s a real challenge,” Cook said. “We looked tired to start and some of the girls were saying they were tired, and it showed. You got to give them credit for digging deep in the fourth quarter to rally back.”.
Kylie Rich and Peoples teamed up for 15 points apiece, and Peoples had six steals. Makynlee Taylor, with 78 percent shooting, scored crucial points down the stretch and ended the night with 14. Page Rich snagged nine rebounds and had 9 points.
For the Arabians, Wilson had 13 points and Megan Mills had 12 points and eight rebounds.
The Arabians are 12-9 and have three games remaining before sectional play begins. They travel to Connersville Jan. 18.
The Bulldogs are 13-7 and are at Muncie Central today, Jan. 17.