LEAD SPORTS PHOTO: Senior Carrie Ponder hit a big shot to put the Eagles in OT where they won on Monday at the district tournament.

LEAD SPORTS STORY:  Carrie Ponder’s 3-point buzzer beater ties game in regulation, SoBoCo girls complete comeback win.

The Southern Boone County girls basketball needed two overtimes this week to prove their program is on the upside of a rebuilding phase.

The first came in a 47-46 overtime loss to a tough Centralia team Feb. 12.

You could say the second overtime was what mattered most.

Monday’s overtime win against Fatima gave the Eagles another day to play as they upset the No. 3 seed Fatima in the district tournament 77-72 to move onto the district semifinals.

Senior Carrie Ponder hit the big shot, a 3-point buzzer-beater at the end of regulation to tie the game at 59-59. The Comets defense got a hand in Ponder’s face as she let the shot fly at the buzzer and sent the game to OT.

“All of our seniors are experienced, but Carrie is our most experienced shooter, and she came up big for us tonight,” Eagles coach Damon Wren said.

The trey by Ponder capped off four consecutive 3-pointers by the Eagles to force overtime against Fatima. Momentum was on the side of SoBoCo as they outscored Fatima 18-13 to cap off the upset win.

~ Get the whole story in today’s Journal ~

By Briley Eilers