Brittany Phipps has started this season slowly. That all changed on Tuesday night, Dec. 21.

Phipps and the Lady Wolverines exchanged runs all night with Mitchell before closing the door in the final two minutes for a 54-45 victory. Phipps had been averaging just 10.8 points per game, but scored a game-high 21 to lead the Lady Wolverines to their sixth victory of the year.

We need her to play hard, head coach Craig Culbreth said. We talked to her before the game about not thinking so much.

She definitely didnt think on Tuesday or maybe it was more that she played out of her mind. The senior dominated the Lady Mountaineers on offense, hitting runners, jump shots and driving to the basket.

It was nice, she said after the game. We needed a win and I cant give credit to anyone, but my team.

Her additional scoring was big for the Lady Wolverines, who had to fight off the Mitchell press for most of the night. Plagued by early turnovers, Polk was down 17-16 after the first quarter and 25-21, but took off in the second quarter to lead 26-21 at the break.

A big difference for the Lady Wolverines was the aggressiveness of the post players in the paint. Melinda Morgan scored nine points and grabbed nine rebounds. Jamie Hrobak grabbed 13 rebounds. Kailey Russell had eight points and 10 rebounds. Phipps added six defensive rebounds, one block and four steals.

The Lady Mountaineers fought back and took the lead 43-40 with a little over five minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. The Lady Wolverines, however, rattled off eight unanswered points, forcing Mitchell to call a timeout.

The timeout didnt help as Polk scored six more unanswered points in the last two minutes to ice the game.

(The teams resiliency) was real big, Culbreth said. We didnt fold.