It’s the end of the second overtime period. Ames’ and Mason City’s girls’ basketball teams have been locked together, point for point, since the fourth quarter. Coach Kathleen Trask draws up an inbounding play. Get the ball to senior Machaela Trask. Shoot. Win, hopefully. The players on the bench are trembling in anticipation.
Flash back to halftime, and it feels like the win has already been claimed by Ames. Mason City is trailing Ames 18-7. But the mood on the Mason City bench was determined.
“At halftime it was like we flipped a switch,” said senior and basketball captain Machaela Trask. “We wanted to start to get stops on defense and then scores on offense.”
“We knew if we did that, we would be able to inch our way back little by little,” she added. “And that is exactly what we did.”
Head coach Kathleen Trask said, “We talked at halftime about keeping our heads in the game and competing, and that 11 points was no problem at all to come back from in the second half.”
And come back they did: after the third quarter, the scoreboard read Ames, 21; Mason City, 18. The fourth quarter put the teams tied at 27 points apiece, and the game proceeded to overtime.
This was a big game for the Riverhawks, and the team’s preparation reflected that. “We were focused going into this game because Ames is at the top of the conference and we knew it was a must-win game,” said Coach Trask.
“We were excited for the opportunity to be able to play in our gym in a big game like this, but that also brings a lot of nerves which we had to get past,” said Machaela.
After the first overtime, the teams remained tied at 29 points apiece. As the second overtime wound down, the Riverhawks were down one point with mere seconds remaining. Coach Trask called a time-out.
Coach Trask drew up a play to inbound the ball to Machaela and hopefully get a shot off. It worked: Machaela received the ball, dodged two Ames players and shot over a third to make the basket as the final buzzer sounded to secure the win for her team.
“I just kept thinking to myself that this was my opportunity and I am very happy that I was able to make that shot for our team,” said Machaela.
As the buzzer sounded, everyone on the Riverhawk Bench jumped up and rushed onto the court to celebrate as a team. “The entire team fought to the end,” said Coach Trask. “The victory last night was one of my top basketball coaching highlights of my career.”
The Riverhawk girls are currently on an 8-game winning streak. They have two more tough games this week against Waverly (Friday) and Decorah (Saturday). “Going into those games after our big game against Ames is definitely giving us more confidence,” said Machaela.
