HAYS – With the chance that winter weather could impact the area Tuesday the TMP basketball games with Plainville were moved up a day and the Monarchs would earn a split of the final MCL regular season games.

Girls

TMP 56, Plainville 51

The TMP girls basketball team clinched their third straight MCL regular season title Monday with a 56-51 win over Plainville at Al Billinger Fieldhouse.

Rose McFarlind postgame interview

Monday’s matchup was a tight back-and-forth battle that never saw any team gain control until the final minutes.

Early in the first quarter with the game tied at four Jillian Lowe gave TMP the lead with a three pointer and then an Emiliee Lane field goal with just over four and a half minutes left in the first half would give the Monarchs a five-point lead at 9-4. The Monarchs built a seven-point lead two different times in the first quarter, including at the end of the quarter at 15-8 thanks to a Megan Hamel jumper.

Plainville stormed back to take the lead in the second quarter and outscored TMP by 10 in the quarter to take a 24-21 lead into the break as Halli Friend scored five straight points for the Cardinals in the final twenty second of the first half.

The Monarchs opened the second half on a quick 4-0 run to take the lead and then after Plainville got a pair of free throws to retake a one-point lead Adell Riedel connected on a three to give TMP a 28-26 lead. But that was short lived as Plainville Aubree Dewey answered with a field goal on the other end to tie the game at 28.

With the game tied at 28 Emily Schippers made back-to-back third quarter field goals to put TMP up 32-28 midway through the third quarter. TMP again led at the end of the third quarter, this time by five at 36-31.

Just like the second quarter Plainville came out in the fourth quarter and took the lead. This time they used a 9-3 run to build a 40-39 lead.

The Monarchs then scored their next eight points at the free throw line over a more than two-and-a-half-minute stretch to go up 47-42, a lead they would never give up on their way to the 56-51 win.

Game highlights

Emily Schippers and Jillian Lowe lead three Monarchs in double-figures with 15 each. Plainville’s Aubree Dewey finished with a game-high 28 points.

The Monarchs improve to 15-4 win the win and finish the Mid-Continent League regular season 9-0 to capture their third straight league title and their fourth in five years.

Plainville drops to 11-9 and 5-7 in the MCL.

Boys

Plainville 63, TMP 60

The Plainville Cardinals outscored the TMP Monarchs 14-10 in the fourth quarter as they rally for down five in the second half to beat TMP 63-60.

Bill Meagher postgame interview

Plainville jumped out to an early 8-3 lead and led by five twice in the first quarter before the Monarchs took their first lead of the game at 14-12 on a Grant Ginther three-point play.

Plainville quickly answered and built their lead back to three before Ryan Karlin cut the deficit two one and Jared Mayers converted on back-to-back field goals at the end of the first quarter to put the Monarchs up 20-17.

TMP build a five-point lead on two separate occasions in the second quarter only to see Plainville outscore the Monarchs 6-1 over the final 2:30 of the first half to take a 31-30 lead into the halftime break.

In the third quarter Plainville build a four-point lead several times before a Ryan Karlin three-pointer sparked a little 7-1 run for the Monarchs to give them a 43-41 lead at the 4:23 mark in the third quarter.

Over the next two minutes the Monarchs build a five-point lead two different times but they only led by three after three 50-47.

In the fourth quarter every time the Monarchs would gain a little separation Plainville had an answer and the main reason for that was Jared Casey who scored 12 of his game-high 32 points in the fourth quarter to help Plainville to the 63-60 win.

Game highlights

Plainville’s Tanner Copeland also scored in double-figures finishing with 17.

Ryan Karlin and Jackson Schulte each finished with 10 points to lead TMP.

Plainville finished the regular season 14-6 and 7-2 in the MCL while TMP is 10-10 and finished 5-4 in league play.

The Monarchs host Hutch-Trinity on Thursday while Plainville is off until they begin sub-state play next week.

The sub-state brackets will be released on Wednesday.