Altamont and Vandalia opened up their girls basketball seasons with an action-packed game that saw the Lady Indians take a late lead and get past the Lady Vandals 64-59 on Tuesday night. Vandalia took the early lead in the first quarter going up 7-3 and would hold a 21-11 lead at the end of the first quarter. After Vandalia pushed their lead to 24-11, Altamont would go on an 11-1 run to close the Vandal lead to 25-22. The two teams would trade baskets for the closing minutes of the half with Vandalia holding onto a 32-28 lead at the break. The third quarter would go exactly how the end of the first half went, with the teams trading scoring possessions back and forth to end the third quarter with the Lady Vandals still up on the Indians, 49-44. The game would begin turn midway through the 4th quarter as Altamont would tie the game up at 53-53 with 3:35 remaining and take a 55-53 lead shortly after. Vandalia would tie the game back up at 55-55 before Altamont’s Grace Nelson would hit on a layup and be fouled to get to the free throw line to make it 58-55 in Altamont’s favor. Vandalia’s Anna Forbes would then draw a foul to get herself to the line and make both free throws to close the Vandal deficit to 58-57. Altamont’s Claire Boehm would then be fouled on a drive to the basket and make both free throws to push Altamont’s lead bac to 3, 60-57. Another Altamont foul would put Vandalia’s Katie Eckhardt at the line for two made free throws to make it 60-59 with about a minute left to play. Vandalia would then see starters Megan Lupton and Forbes foul out of the game and with the Lady Vandals fouling to try and regain possession, Altamont would go on to make 4 of 6 free throws and close out a 64-59 win. Altamont starts the season at 1-0 and will get set to start play in the Newton Bob Kerans tournament on Saturday as they will face Flora at 6:00pm. Vandalia is 0-1 and will be off until Friday when they begin play in the Litchfield Girls Thanksgiving Tournament, facing Nokomis at 6:00pm.
Altamont Scoring:
Grace Nelson – 37 points
Kylie Osteen – 12 points
Kaylee Lurkins – 4 points
Claire Boehm – 3 points
Libby Reardon – 3 points
Remi Miller – 2 points
Peyton Osteen – 2 points
Skylie Klein – 1 point
Vandalia Scoring:
Bella Austin – 19 points
Anna Forbes – 11 points
Megan Lupton – 11 points
Zoe Satterthwaite – 8 points
Katie Eckhardt – 7 points
Madison Lupton – 3 points