GIRLS BASKETBALL: Mendota slips past L-P

MENDOTA — The Mendota and the La Salle-Peru girls basketball teams put on an incredibly entertaining and hard fought game in which both teams deserved to win Wednesday.

But it was the Lady Trojans who walked away winners when a foul with 3.3 seconds left sent MHS star Amellia Bromenschenkel to the free throw line.

She calmly knocked down both shots to lift the Lady Trojans to a 66-64 non-conference victory.

“My teammates really stepped up tonight,” said Bromenschenkel, who poured in a game-high 41 points to go along with 16 rebounds, five assists, five steals and two blocks. “I had a lot of points but it was because of them and how they got me the ball, set screens and rebounded. L-P is a tough team and it was fun to play in a game like this. I feel like this will help us down the stretch and into regionals.”

The win was Mendota’s 20 of the season.

“This is a big area win for us and it also gets us to 20 wins on the season, which was one of our goals,” MHS coach John Hansen said. “I thought we hustled well and rebounded well. L-P is a quality opponent and they played us real tough. Ameillia did what she does and had a great game. I also believe this will help us in the future. It was a very good high school basketball game and we are real happy to have come out on the winning end of it.”

The game began with Mendota’s Jenna O’Donnell knocking down a 3-pointer, but L-P evened the score quickly when Emma Happ converted an old-fashioned three-point play.

Lauren Klein would exchange a pair of layups with Mendota’s Daisey Arteaga and Bianca Espinoza to keep the score tied before Happ struck for three more from deep in the corner.

The Lady Trojans outscored L-P 8-2 to finish off the quarter to make the score 15-12 in favor of the host.

In the second quarter, Bromenschenkel began to crank it up for Mendota, knocking in the first four points of the period before Happ dropped in two more.

Following another Bromenschenkel hoop, L-P’s Brooklyn Ficek began to heat up, hitting the first of her four 3s in the period.

Rhiannon Skoog followed with a bucket before Ficek went coast to coast to finish the half with the Lady Cavs leading 30-27.

In the third, Mendota surged to the lead 32-31 on a Bromenschenkel bucket and an Arteaga 3 ball before Happ gave L-P the lead back for her side with a putback.

Ficek stayed hot from behind the arc and L-P led 36-32 with six minutes to go in the period.

The next seven points came from Bromenschenkel as the Lady Trojans to built a 39-36 lead, but back came the Lady Cavs on another Happ 3 ball and a Skoog free toss.

The teams traded leads the rest of the quarter with Ficek draining a 3 to put L-P up 47-45 before Bromenschenkel answered with a jumper to tie the game at 47-47 as the clock ran out.

Mendota jumped to a five-point lead with Bromenschenkel hitting a layup and Arteaga canning one from deep, but L-P bounced back on a pair of 3s — one each from Ficek and Paige Champlin — to take a one-point lead.

The teams battled tooth and nail down the stretch, and with one minute showing on the clock, the game was deadlocked at 60-60.

Bromenschenkel broke the tie with a pair from the foul line before Klein drove down the lane and scooped in a shot and drew a whistle. She converted the free throws and L-P led 63-62 with 24 seconds to play.

Bromenschenkel sank a pair of free throws and Klein made 1-of-2 for L-P as the whistles continued to blow, leading up to a 64-64 tie before Bromenschenkel was able to connect on the final two free throws to give Mendota a hard fought 66-64 victory.

“It was a hard fought game and a tough way to lose at the end,” L-P coach Hollis Vickery said. “The girls are really taking it hard, but that’s life and you need to learn from it and go on. We had opportunities to score, grab rebounds, make a few free throws and get to a few loose balls. Give Mendota credit they played well and Bromenschenkel is a very good player. We have to regroup now and move forward and use this experience as we move into postseason.”