With only two weeks remaining until regionals, the West Prairie /Southeastern Lady Cyclones began preparations by facing consecutive road games this week against Camp Point Central, North Fulton and South Fulton.
Tuesday night, Camp Point Central jumped out early and eventually pulled away for a 50-34 non-conference win over the Cyclones.
The host Panthers led by just a 26-19 margin at halftime but went on to outscore WP/SE 24-15 in the second half to secure the win.
Madelynn Sullivan topped the Cyclones with eight points, followed by Emily Martin and Alyvia Barkley with seven points each.
Josie Hodges scored five points, followed by Payton McGrew with four and Ashlynn Kelley with three to close out the Cyclone scoring.
West Prairie traveled to Cuba to face North Fulton Wednesday night for a Prairieland Conference crossover tilt against the Wildcats.
The Cyclones overcame a poor night from the charity stripe and had to withstand a late comeback by the Wildcats before hanging on for a 45-44 win.
Sullivan scored 15 of West Prairie/Southeastern’s 16 first quarter points as the Cyclones led 16-8 after one period.
The visitors extended their lead to 24-15 by halftime.
WP/SE held its largest lead at 40-29 going into the final period where North Fulton mounted its rally.
The Cyclones struggled from the floor as Kara Stephens scored inside with 3:54 to go for their first points of the fourth quarter.
With the score deadlocked at 44-44, Sullivan hit 1of-2 free throws with 21 seconds left to give WP/SE the lead.
The defense took over from there as the Cyclones stole the ball near midcourt and ran out the clock for the win.
“It’s been awhile since we’ve been in that position,” said WP/SE head coach Grant Bland. “We had to re-learn how to close a game out, which might not be a bad thing for us to be tested like that.”
With the victory, WP improved to 14-14 for the season while North Fulton fell to 7-17.
Sullivan led the Cyclones with 24 points including three treys. Stephens finished with eight points, Barkley had five while Hodges and Kelley had four points each for WP/SE.
“Glad to see Sullivan have a better game and proud of how our defense locked it down in the final minute when they really had to,” said Bland.
West Prairie/Southeastern was scheduled to meet South Fulton on Thursday night to complete its busy week before returning home for its final two games of the regular season.
On Feb. 9, the Cyclones will play host to Bushnell- Prairie City in a game that will be played at Southeastern High School in Augusta.
Lewistown then will come to Colchester for the regular season finale on Feb. 12.
