• By Nicole Velebil
• Originally published January 21, 2010 at 8:28 a.m., updated January 21, 2010 at 8:38 a.m.

BAY CITY – The Bay City Ladycats overcame a sluggish start in the first half of Friday night’s game and captured a one-point overtime victory over Lamar Consolidated, 41-40.

The Lady Mustangs grabbed the lead early with a 5-point run capped off by a floater from Petrolina Chilaka making it 5-0 with 4:30 left in the first period. Lamar’s defense contributed to the early success by not allowing the Bay City offense to record a basket in the first five and half minutes of the game.

Andrea Mayberry recorded the Lady Cats first points with a lay-up off of an assist from Endaca Stuart and cut into the lead, 5-2 with 3:39 remaining in the quarter.

Lamar put together another 5-point run late in the first that started with Shaequla McGaffie draining a 3 pointer stretching the advantage to 10-3.

Bay City found it hard to produce any offense in the first half recording only 10 points. The Lady Mustangs only added 8 more points to their total in the second period and they took an 18-10 lead into the locker room at the half.

“After the first half, anything was going to be better than that,” Ladycats’ Head Coach Sherby Wilkerson said. “Ten points. That was embarrassing. That is what I told them at halftime.”

Mayberry took the message to heart and came out in the first two minutes of the third quarter on fire. She single-handedly cut the Lamar lead in half by connecting on a jumper and a layup making it 18-14 with 6:55 on the clock. A few minutes later, Ashley Grice found the bucket getting into the lead bringing it to within three, 19-16, the closest the Ladycats had been since the first quarter.

With 3:18 left in the third period, McGaffie connected on her third three pointer of the night and extended the lead for Lamar, 22-19.

A few seconds later, the Ladycats came alive and went on a 9-point run. The run was fueled by a technical foul called against the Lamar head coach with 2:34 to go in the third. Following the technical, Devan Price connected on one of the two free throws, making it a one-point game – 22-21. The run ended on another Price free throw and Bay City grabbed the lead for the first time in the contest, making it 25-22 with :41 remaining in the quarter.

The fourth period was dominated by Lamar’s Chilaka as she racked up nine points on three jump-shots, a layup, and a free throw. Bay City had an opportunity to steal a victory in the final seconds of regulation, but Stuart’s desperation heave at the buzzer was just off the mark, forcing overtime after both teams battled to a 34-34 tie through four quarters.

The Ladycats jumped on top in overtime when Price nailed a jumper off and assist from Stuart making it 36-34 with 2:56 on the clock.

About a minute later, Bay City added another deuce on a layup from Mayberry extending their advantage to five, 40-35 with 1:21 to go in the game.

Ten seconds later, Chilaka drove in for a layup and was fouled. The basket was good and Chilaka completed the 3-point play by making the foul shot cutting the lead to two, 40-38.

Mayberry would added one more point to the board for Bay City from the charity stripe making it 41-38 with :34 left in overtime.

The Lady Mustangs put the ball back in the hands of Chilaka and she connected on another layup pulling them to within one point with :24 on the clock. Lamar made a last attempt with a half court shot but it fell short as the buzzer sounded.

“I’m happy that it’s a win,” Wilkerson said. “Sometimes it doesn’t matter how we win, but this one could have cost us with all the mistakes we had tonight.”

The Ladycats had two players in double digits. Price lead the team with 16 and Grice finished with 12. Lamar also had two in double figures. Chilaka had 19 and McGaffie put up 12.

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