In the midst of a record-setting season, the West Prairie/Southeastern Cyclones weren’t ready to see it come to an end Saturday night.
WP/SE bounced back from a halftime deficit to defeat Rushville-Industry 54-40 in the first-round of the Class 1A Havana Regional played in Colchester.
With the victory, WP/ SE improved to a program record 17th win against 15 losses overall and a regional victory for the second season in a row.
Only two seasons removed from an 0-15 record, fifth-year coach Grant Bland continues to be amazed at how his team has progressed.
“Not to sound selfish, but six years ago when I interviewed for this, the guy interviewing me said the West Prairie girls had fifteen wins in its last fifteen years,” said Bland. “I told him that we would change that. I didn’t know how long it would take, but I’ve read that it takes five years to build a program. Being at this point right now, it’s really special.”
After splitting a pair of close games with RIHS earlier in the season, this game started out the same way as both teams battled back and forth early on.
Freshman Alyvia Barkley hit a three-pointer with 1:09 left in the first quarter to give the Cyclones an 11-6 lead.
But the Rockets answered with a 5-0 run, thanks to a trey and a short jumper from freshman Tavia Mitchelle to even the score at 11-11 after one period.
Defense took over in the second quarter as both teams struggled offensively.
Baskets from Josie Hodges and Barkley gave WP/SE a 15-11 lead with 5:49 to go in the half. But RIHS countered with a 7-1 run including a threepointer from senior Becca Lewis to send the Rockets into the locker room with an 18-16 lead at the break.
West Prairie/Southeastern would come to life in the third quarter led by senior Madelynn Sullivan who was held scoreless in the first half.
The Cyclones’ leading scorer this season drilled three consecutive treys, the last two sparking a 14-0 run to give WP/SE a 35-23 lead with 3:54 remaining in the third quarter.
“I told the girls at halftime, ‘Listen, she’s not going to have zero points all game,” said RIHS coach Aaron McDonald of Sullivan. “‘She’s going to find her rhythm. She’s going to find her shot. And then she’s going to make pretty much all the ones she takes.’” But the Rockets refused to go away and finished on a 6-0 run of their own to cut the gap to 35-29 going into the fourth quarter.
The Cyclones saw five different players score in the final eight minutes and when Hodges hit backto- back baskets midway through the period, WP/ SE had its largest lead of the game at 47-31 with only 3:19 remaining.
RIHS was held to only three field goals the rest of the way as the Cyclones hit 7-of-10 from the charity stripe down the stretch to earn the victory and end the season for the Rockets.
Sullivan finished with a game-high 20 points including four treys, all in the second half to pace the WP attack.
Barkley finished with 17 points including eight in the first half to keep the Lady Cyclones close.
“I just had to take it all in and play together,” said Barkley about the first half. “Making those shots meant a lot.”
“I told her today before the game that you have to have the mindset that you’re one of the better players in the gym” said Bland about Barkley. “She stepped up and did her job. She does such a great job on the defensive end, too. I’m really excited for her moving forward.”
For Sullivan, it was her final appearance on the home floor and a halftime talk with herself changed the game.
“I went into the locker room and started talking to my teammates,” said Sullivan. “This could have been my last game and I was like, I’ve really got to step up like the leader that I am. That’s exactly how I came out in the second half.”
“We told (Sullivan) in the locker room and looked right at her and said you’ve got to keep going,” said Bland. “You’re the big reason that we’re in this spot and get us back into it. And she did.”
Hodges would finish with eight points while Payton McGrew had four points.
Ashlynn Kelley and Kara Stephens added two points apiece and Emily Martin had one point to round out the WP/SE scoring.
Mitchelle and Devin Vogler shared scoring honors for RIHS (8-19) with nine points each.
WP/SE faced Liberty (26-4), ranked No. 7 in Class 1A by the Associated Press on Monday in the semifinal round of the Havana Regional in Havana.
“I’m just proud of everybody we’ve got out here,” said Bland. “Our bench energy was awesome and that’s what you’ve got to do to keep moving forward.”
Monday’s second semifinal had Havana (22-6) facing Mendon Unity (1516).
Monday’s winners advanced to Thursday’s 7 p.m. title contest at Havana.
