Powered by a screaming crowd and a frantic defense, Irving College mounted a fierce fourth-quarter rally in the 5-6 grade Division 1 girls championship game Tuesday night.
But once the game went into overtime, it was all Hickory Creek as the Lady Hawks scored every point to grab a 26-20 win in the tournament finals played at Irving College.
Addison Steakley scored 11 points to lead Hickory Creek.
Lilly Cathcart had a game-high 12 points to catapult the Irving College attack.
It didn’t look like there would be a wild finish when Hickory Creek held Irving College scoreless in the first quarter in building a 12-0 lead.
Irving College spent the rest of the game on the comeback trail, but it still seemed like a longshot as the Lady Tigers were down 18-12 entering the fourth quarter. That’s when Irving College turned its defense up a notch, making life miserable for Hickory Creek.
Cathcart gave Irving College the lead with 1:44 left when she made a driving layup and was fouled. Her free throw capped a three-point play and put the Lady Tigers up 20-18.
That lead almost held up, but Aubrey Oleksik had other ideas. She made a steal near halfcourt and dribbled to her right for a layup with :32 left that tied it at 20.
Despite timeouts and drawn-up plays, neither team would get a quality shot in the closing seconds and the championship went into overtime. Hickory Creek left little doubt from there.
Oleksik would score on a driving layup and Steakley would follow by continuing to attack the basket. She was fouled on back-to-back possessions and made one free throw each time to put the Lady Hawks ahead 24-20.
Ruby Denning would finish the scoring during a hectic sequence where the ball was knocked around between players as Irving College was trying to break the press. Denning was the one who came up with the handle and her basket gave Hickory Creek at 26-20 lead that would hold up as the final score.
Other Hickory Creek scorers were Denning with 8, Oleksik with 5 and Maci McBride with 2.
For Irving College, Jayla Hudson scored 4, and Kadee Lyle and Baelee Crouch each scored 2.
