Santillan’s Rebounds Net Win
The McDonald County Lady Mustang basketball team survived a pair of late misses by Seneca before Rita Santillan got a key rebound to help the Lady Mustangs hold on for a 42-41 win on Jan. 17 at Seneca High School.
McDonald County took a 34-32 lead into the fourth quarter after Santillan hit a pair of three-pointers to end the third period.
The teams traded baskets to open the fourth quarter before Seneca took a 39-38 lead with 3:35 left in the game on consecutive baskets by Aliya Grotjohn and Makayla French.
Ragan Wilson tied the game for the Lady Mustangs with a free throw with only 1:41 left. After a Seneca miss, McDonald County’s Sydney Killion hit a three-pointer with 39.7 seconds left to give McDonald County a 42-39 lead.
Mylea Schlessman got Seneca to within 42-41 with a pair of free throws with 27.9 seconds left.
A McDonald County turnover gave Seneca a chance in the final 20 seconds, but the Lady Indians missed from the outside and then from underneath before Santillan was able to come away with a rebound and make an outlet pass to Wilson.
Wilson missed a one-and-one with 3.6 seconds left only to be able to get her own rebound despite McDonald County having its other four players back for defense.
Wilson then missed two free throws with 2.3 seconds left only to block Seneca’s last chance heave from halfcourt.
“It was a good win against a pretty good team,” said coach Chris Kennedy. “Our defense in the second half stepped up and shut them down. We had some kids hit some key shots and that makes the game so much easier. Sydney (Killion) hit the biggest shot she has since I have been here. Rita came up with a big rebound. I can’t be more proud of what the girls did tonight.”
Seneca jumped out to an 11-7 lead after the first quarter and took a 27-21 advantage into the locker room at intermission.
Santillan opened the third period with a trey and added eight more points in the period to help the Lady Mustangs take a 34-32 lead into the fourth quarter after holding the Lady Indians to just five points in the period.
Santillan finished with 14 points to lead McDonald County. Rounding out the scoring for the Lady Mustangs were Samara Smith and Jaylie Sanny with eight points each, Wilson with four, Killion and Kloe Myers three each and Laney Wilson two.
Grotjohn finished with 19 points to lead all scorers.
The Lady Mustangs improved to 5-7 overall, including a 2-0 record in the Big 8 Conference, heading into their Jan. 20 game at Monett. McDonald County returns home on Jan. 23 to host East Newton.
B Game
McDonald County added a 46-21 win in the B game. The Lady Mustangs jumped out to a 17-5 lead at the end of the first quarter and took a 24-9 lead at halftime.
Myers led a balanced McDonald County scoring attack with 10 points, followed by Addy Leach with nine points, Abby Wiseman with eight, Ebenee Munboz and Smith six each, Megan Elwood five and Sosha Howard two.