The Waynesville High School girls basketball team nearly pulled off a comeback win in the 34th annual Rolla  Lady Bulldog Invitational on Saturday night, but fell just short, allowing the Columbia Hickman Lady Kewpies to pull off the upset in a low-scoring 37-35 game.
Hickman dominated early, running out to a 20-9 lead in the first quarter. 3-point shots were the name of the game for the Lady Kewpies early in the contest. They drained five total. 5-8 senior Nicole Schulz scored all 9 of her points off 3-pointers, while senior Chastity Price, the tournament’s MVP, made two threes en route to a 19-point night.
The Lady Tigers came back in the second quarter, ending a five-minute scoring drought two minutes into the period.  Junior forward Mariah Wilder gave the Lady Tigers some much-needed momentum at the end of the quarter when she made a shot and drew a foul with 9.8 seconds remaining. Junior Lanicia Lawrence then stole the ball back and had the chance to cut the lead to three going into the break but threw a wayward pass instead of shooting as time expired. Waynesville trailed 24-19 at halftime.
However, the Lady Tigers would roar back in the third. A layup by 5-10 senior April Dowell with 15 seconds left in the third period capped an 8-0 run and sent the game into the final period tied 31-31.
The teams traded baskets at the beginning of the fourth but after Dowell’s 17-foot jumper with 3:06 left neither team would score again.
Sophomore guard Ekate Lymon appeared to have tied the game at 37 with a layup at 1:32 after coming out of nowhere to catch an inbounded ball, but Hickman’s Shauneece Ballenger was called for a foul on the floor and the bucket was no good.
The teams exchanged turnovers for the last minute of the game but it turned out that the Lady Tigers would have one last crack at tying the game. Dowell missed a shot with 3.1 seconds on the clock. Waynesville got the rebound but was unable to put it back in the hoop as time ran out.
Lawrence led Waynesville scoring with 12 while Dowell scored 11. Prince led Hickman with 19.
Individual scoring:
Hickman (37): Schulz 3-0-9, Britt-Rankin 0-0-0, Corpening 2-0-4, Hall 2-1-5, Davis 0-0-0, Burr 0-0-0, Prince 7-3-19, Totals 14-4-37.
Waynesville (35): Lymon 0-0-0, Combs 0-0-0, Dowell 5-1-11, Wilder 2-0-4, Thomas 2-2-6, House 1-0-2, Lawrence 5-2-12, Totals 15-5-35.
Scoring by quarters:
HHS:  20   4     7    6    37
WHS:  9   10   11    4    35
Notes: Hickman’s Prince was named the tournament’s MVP and earned a place on the all-tournament team. Lawrence was Waynesville’s representative. Rounding out the team were senior Monica Pyrtle of Sullivan, sophomore Aqua Corpening of Hickman, and seniors Dani Steele and Tori Hagni of Rolla.