The Vandalia girls basketball team fought hard all game, coming back from an early nine-point deficit and a late seven-point hole against Hamilton County Wednesday in the opening round of the Christ Our Rock Lutheran Winterfest Tournament. But the Lady Foxes hit key 3-pointers when they needed them and took advantage of 20-plus Lady Vandals turnovers in a 61-54 win over Vandalia.
The Lady Vandals (4-9) found themselves trailing 47-40 heading into the final quarter, but rallied to even the game at 50-all on an Ollie Whitehead jumper with 3:50 to go. Rayci Phelps countered with her fifth 3-pointer of the game, however, kicking off a decisive 9-0 Lady Foxes’ run that was fueled by four Vandalia turnovers in a 2 ½-minute span. Phelps finished with a game-high 27 points.
The Lady Vandals dug out of an early 13-4 hole to even the game at 26-all on a Faith DuPlayee 3-pointer with just less than a minute to go in the first half and then took their first lead of the game on a Madison Lupton free throw with 20 seconds remaining.
But Hamilton County managed to take a 29-27 lead into halftime, as Peyton Harmon hit three free throws after being fouled on a 3-point attempt with 3.9 seconds to go before intermission.
Nine Lady Vandal third-quarter turnovers and four Hamilton County 3-pointers helped the Lady Foxes extend their lead in the third quarter, but a 10-3 Lady Vandals run to start the fourth quarter kept things close heading into the final four minutes of play before Hamilton County managed to seize control of a frantic game.
Katie Eckhardt led Vandalia with 17 points and also grabbed several steals. Madison Lupton added 16 points and Whitehead had 12 points.
The Lady Vandals will return to action at 2 p.m. Thursday against Sandoval.
Vandalia Scoring
Katie Eckhardt — 17 points
Madison Lupton — 16 points
Ollie Whitehead — 12 points
Livi Wehrle — 4 points
Faith DuPlayee — 3 points
Bella LaMonica — 2 points
