In just seconds, the Waterford Union High School girls basketball team went from winners to losers, courtesy of a Wilmot sophomore Julia Hickey layup to give the Panthers a 53-52 Southern Lakes Conference win Thursday.
The Panthers, who remain unbeaten in the SLC at 2-0, are in three-way deadlock for first with Badger and Union Grove following Thursday’s decision.
Wilmot, down 25-22 entering halftime, picked up the pace in the second half where the Panthers outscored the Wolverines 31-27.
The Panthers’ win comes in spite of a game-high 20 points from Waterford’s Katie Rohner, whose team dropped to 1-4 overall, and 0-2 in the SLC.
For Wilmot, junior Riley Alexander scored nine of her team-leading 13 points from 3-point range. She also had three total rebounds.
Senior Morgan Zenon, meanwhile, pitched in her third straight double-digit output of the season with 12 points and had six total rebounds.
Becca Bell, a senior, also contributed in the low post where she collected four total rebounds and added 11 points for the Panthers.
Hickey, who delivered the game-winner, finished with seven points.
Aside from Rohner’s 20 points, the Panthers’ defense held the rest of Wolverines to single digits, with Ellie Warner posting eight points.
Correction: A previous version of this story indicated Hickey’s game-winning shot was a 3-pointer, but was instead a layup. The story above is the corrected version.