ATTICA — Beating a team twice in a season is never easy. But that was the task at hand on Tuesday for the Fountain Central girls basketball team as the Mustangs traveled to Attica to open up post-season play. FC, in the Class A Sectional 54 opener took on the Faith Christian Eagles. The game quite literally came down to the final possession after freshman Henley Good drilled a pair of free-throws to give FC a 49-46 lead with just seven seconds to go. The Eagles raced down the court but wouldn’t even get a shot off as they fumbled the ball away and the clock hit zero and the Mustangs celebrated a sectional victory.
Before that final play however, the game had so many different twists and turns. The two teams came out on fire in the opening quarter with the Eagles leading 16-15, but it was the Mustangs who would take a 26-25 lead into halftime thanks to a buzzer-beating layup by Good who stole the ball and scored as time expired. After three quarters, Fountain Central had built its biggest lead of the game at 41-34. FC began to get a little sloppy with the ball and turnovers kept the Eagles within striking distance. A May Layton three with 4:01 to go made it 42-41 then with 41.5 remaining the Eagles made one of two free-throws to make it 47-46 and got the offensive rebound but were unable to get the go-ahead shot to fall.
“Getting that first win is just as hard as winning the whole thing,” junior Hannah Prickett said after the win. “This is just the first steps for us now we get a few more days to practice before we come back on Friday.”
An underlying storyline in the sectional win for the Mustangs was that in the fourth quarter when they’re trying to hold on to a lead, they were playing three freshman who all were getting their first taste of what a sectional is like. That right there is what stood out to FC coach Sam Karr.
“We battled with three girls who had never been in that type of environment before,” he said. “Not only did they not shy away from the moment, they all delivered. That’s the trust I have in those girls. All-around though, we had so many players step up and just do what they needed to. Give credit to Faith Christian because they’re a hard team to play against with their pressure and the Layton girl who can shoot it from the volleyball line. I was proud of our girls for rising to the occasion and coming away with a gutsy win.”
It’s the second straight season the Mustangs have won a sectional game. In this win Both Good and Prickett scored 12 to lead the Mustangs. Brailey Hoagland scored seven, Rylee Simko six, Aubrey Ashwill five, Kacey Kirkpatrick four, and Bella Bacon one. FC for the game shot 14-38 37%) from the floor and 4-13 (31%) from three while going 17-26 (65%) from the free-throw line. In what is probably a season-high for FC, they grabbed 41 rebounds in the win while turning it over 23 times. Prickett rounded out her night with a double-double by grabbing 13 boards.
Faith Christian sees their season end with a record of 12-12 and were led by Layton’s 22 points. Gracyn Musick scored seven, Hannah Bolton six, Johanna Haste five, Allison Caplinger four, and Jordan Roseberry added two. The Eagles for the game shot 18-51 (35%) in the loss and 4-19 (21%) from three. They converted and 6-9 (66.7%) of their foul shots while grabbing 26 rebounds and turning it over 17 times.
The stat that Karr is most happy with is that 41-26 rebounding advantage for his team.
“I knew that this was going to be a war and that whoever won the rebounding battle was probably going to win,” he said. “41 rebounds is awesome and I wrote on our board whoever does the little things like rebounding, dives for loose balls, makes a play on defense, that’s the kind of stuff that wins you post-season games. Our girls did those little things very well and that’s why we came out on top.”
Fountain Central (19-4) now has their most wins in a season since the 2014-15 season when they won 21 games. In order to have a 20-win season, the Mustangs will have to go through sectional favorite Clinton Central (21-1) who is ranked as the No. 2 ranked team in Class A. Despite their record and ranking, the Mustangs aren’t backing down from the challenge that lies ahead on Friday with a spot in the sectional title game on the line.
“There’s no pressure on us,” Karr said. “I wouldn’t want to play us right now and if we don’t turn the ball over, I think it’ll be an absolute knock down drag out fight. These girls are a much better team than when we first played and I don’t think they fear them at all.”
Fountain Central and Clinton Central will get underway in the first semi-final from Attica at 6 p.m. on Friday.
