Pekin tops WACO in nail-biter

PACKWOOD — Pekin and WACO traded blows all night long on Tuesday night, when the two Southeast Iowa Super Conference North Division foes battled in their first regular season games of the year.

A back-and-forth affair ended when the Panthers held off a late WACO rush to sneak past the Warriors 43-42 at Pekin High School.

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It was WACO that came out strong early, keeping Pekin to just one basket in the first quarter to take a 7-2 lead into the second. The Panthers struck back in the second, and the two teams were tied 11-11 heading into halftime.

The third quarter saw an offensive explosion as a more high-octane pace led to 33 points, 20 of which went to the Panthers. Sophomore Panther post Anna Hadley, who scored nine points, had a dominant quarter down-low, and the Panthers led 31-24 after three quarters.

Hadley scored 17 points in the game, but fouled out midway through the second half, and that gave WACO a shot to climb all the way back to cut the lead to four points in the final minute.

Pekin’s lone senior, Alex Parsons scored 12 points in the second half with many of her points coming after Hadley fouled out. She found herself at the line in the final 10 seconds with Pekin clinging on to a 43-40 lead.

After a WACO timeout, Parsons missed the first of two free throw attempts, prompting another timeout to ice her, with the game hanging in the balance. This time, she sank the shot to stretch the lead back to four points.

“I'm just glad that I made the last free throw,” Parsons said. “I was thinking, 'I better make this.'”

WACO’s Naomi Egli banked in a 3-pointer with less than five seconds left, but the Warriors were out of timeouts and the Panther held onto the ball on the baseline as the clock ticked to zero.

“We have a long way to go, but that was good for us,” said Pekin head coach Davis Eidahl. “These are a good group of girls to coach, and they needed something like that. It makes Thanksgiving a little nicer.”

Hadley’s 17 points led the Panthers. Parsons finished with 14 points, and Chloe Glosser hit a trifecta of 3-pointers to finish the night with nine. Abby Guise and Maggy Dickey each scored two.

“I really like this team, and I think the younger girls are going to be really good when they're older,” said Parsons. “We're clicking now as a team, and I'm blessed to have this group of girls.”

WACO’s Emma Wagler had a flurry of points down the stretch to finish with 15. Freshman Brenna Graber ended the night with eight points off the bench. Marie Farmer and Ella Huisenga both scored six points. Halle Shelman had four, and Egli finished with three.

“That's a sense of urgency that has to come earlier in the game,” said WACO head coach Lisa Graber. “I think a lot of it is between our ears right now, because I know they can hit the shots that they were taking tonight.”

WACO (0-1) will host its home opener on Monday against Holy Trinity Catholic. Pekin (1-0) will host Wapello on Tuesday.