CLINTON — Starting on Monday, the Clinton Lady Maroons and CHS Athletic Department have been hosting the Annual Clinton Turkey Tussle.  Besides Clinton, there are seven other schools involved in two pools of play, Cranberry and Stuffing (how appropriate).  

Cranberry Pool consists of Clinton, Maroa-Forsyth, Lutheran School Association of Decatur (LSA), and Tri-Valley.  The Stuffing Pool includes of Riverton, which also hosts some games, PORTA (from Petersburg), Mt. Pulaski, and Olympia (from Stanford).  Each team plays within its pool, and then in the final round plays the team ranked in the same place from the other pool for the final rankings.

In the first round, played on Monday at Riverton, PORTA beat Mt. Pulaski 42-33 and Riverton beat Olympia 45-24.  

At Clinton the first game had Maroa-Forsyth beating LSA 48-18.  In the second game of the evening, the home town Lady Maroons faced the ever strong opponent, the Tri-Valley Lady Vikings.  This was one of the “Games-of-the-Tournament.”  The teams were even at 6 after one quarter of play with Clinton then down by two at the half.  

Things looked dreary for Clinton when they were then down by 11 at the end of the third quarter.  But, the Lady Maroons fought back valiantly to come to within one point with seconds left.  They worked for the last shot and came up with a rim shot at the buzzer.  It was a tough battle to lose in the last second by a point.  

For the Lady Maroons, Alyssa Saulsbery had 14 points to lead all scorers followed by Country Financial Player-of-the-Game Madi Filkin with 13 points.

On Tuesday, the PORTA Lady Jays beat the Olympia Lady Spartans 37-21 followed by another barnburner by the Riverton Lady Hawks and the Mt. Pulaski Lady Hilltoppers.  This was a seesaw game from the start, leading to a tie score at 49 points with 10 seconds left.  Mt. Pulaski gained possession of the ball and drove the court.  Lady Hilltopper Skylar Hayes hit a layup and scored a third point on a free throw after being fouled to put up a 52-49 point lead.  

The Lady Hawks could not get the ball inbounded for a chance at a return shot, thus the game ended with Mt. Pulaski winning.  Skylar Hayes is leading in the run for player of the tournament having scored 44 points in her first two games (22 in each game).  

The games continue Thursday, Friday, and Saturday with the Clinton Lady Maroons next up at 7:15 p.m. on Thursday, November 16.  The Lady Maroons will face the LSA Lady Lions.  After that the Lady Maroons host the Maroa-Forsyth Lady Trojans on Friday, November 17, at 7:15 p.m. 

Box Score: Clinton vs. Tri-Valley

                    1     2     3     4     Final

Clinton          6    11    9    16      42

Tri-Valley      6    13    14   10      43

Top Scorers

Clinton          Alyssa Saulsbery     14

                    Madi Filkin              13

Tri-Valley      Regan Drake           12

                    Lily Young                9