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Fairfield storms back in MP
Trojans rally from 15 down to stun Panthers late
Southeast Iowa Union offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
MT. PLEASANT — When the Fairfield and Mt. Pleasant girls basketball teams get together on the same court, you can usually count on the contest going right down to the wire, and it was no different on Friday night at Mt. Pleasant Coummnity High School.
In yet another wild one, Fairfield battled back from a 15-point deficit to take down the Panthers 47-43 for the Trojans’ first Southeast Conference win of the season.
It was all Panthers in the first half. Kynlee White and Paityn Ensminger each had seven points in the opening two quarters, and the Mt. Pleasant defense was looking strong, as the Panthers led the Trojans 26-13 at the break.
A basket by Abby Carthey to start the third quarter made it seem like the second half may go the way of the first, but a hungry Trojan team locked in and started to chip away at the Mt. Pleasant lead. The Trojans scored 17 points in the third quarter to get all the way back to within two, at 30-28.
The two teams traded the lead back and forth in the fourth quarter, until a huge 3-point play by Maddy Martin gave the Trojans the lead for good.
With 1:43 showing on the clock, Martin hit an and-one layup following a missed Panther free throw, hit from the charity stripe, and gave Fairfield its biggest lead at that point, a 42-39 advantage.
“I’m just so grateful for my teammates,” said Martin after the game. “They’re getting me those passes, and getting me open so I would be able to have that shot.”
Mt. Pleasant had multiple shots to tie it on the other end, but couldn’t find the bottom of the basket, leading to the dagger, as Faith Jones sunk a 3-pointer from the wing to put Fairfield up 44-39 with 1:14 on the clock.
“I couldn’t have done it without my amazing teammates hyping me up after the low first half” Jones said. “We just kept our composure and kept telling ourselves that ‘we’ve got this.’”
Despite a slow opening two quarters, Jones finished the night with a team-high 14 point. Emma Metcalf had nine. Martin scored seven. Vanessa Kessel had six. Elyse Setterstrom and Lauren Martin scored four each, and Lenora Felt ended the night with two.
“This could be big. This could be huge,” said Fairfield head coach Brian Witzenberg. “We hop right back on the court on Monday, so we can take this momentum into Monday and hopefully we’ll come out Monday with a win too.”
It was a devastating loss for the other side, as Mt. Pleasant saw it’s chances at a first SEC win slip away by the minute.
“We just didn’t come out of halftime with any energy,” said Mt. Pleasant head coach Curt Watson. “We got to the free-throw line, but 16-of-35 from the line ain’t going to win a lot of games.”
Both teams are now 2-8 overall. Fairfield is 1-4 in the SEC, while Mt. Pleasant fell to 0-5.
