The Mustang girls’ basketball team rallied back from a 16-point deficit during the second half to beat the host Meskwaki Warriors 66-60 on Thursday night, rattling off their fourth-straight win in the process.

The Mustangs (7-12) made seven 3-pointers and scored a season-high output as a result, led by Melinda Puumala’s career-best 19 points. In all, four East Marshall players scored in double figures in the improbable comeback.

“What’s nice about winning this game is over the course of the last couple years, we’ve been in this situation and our effort’s been there but the people don’t see it because we end up on the wrong side of the scoreboard,” said East Marshall head coach Greg Lee. “Tonight it was really nice to see us pull out a game like this and everyone sees for the most part we’re not going away, and tonight we didn’t and it paid off for the girls.”

Meskwaki (10-7) led 29-22 at the half and scored the first nine points out of the intermission, going in front 38-22 by the period’s midpoint. But the Mustangs started getting baskets out of their press-break, and then the Warriors lost their senior point guard Delicia Guevara to an injury.

T-R PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE

East Marshall had cut the deficit to 10 by then, and continued whittling it down as the game wore on. Puumala’s 3-pointer with seven seconds left in the third quarter kickstarted the Mustangs’ momentum into the fourth quarter, and back-to-back treys by Emily Terrones and Tylyn Eicher early in the fourth tied the score at 46-all.

But the Warriors responded in kind, charting the game’s next seven points behind Abigail Ironshell. The junior lefthander attacked the basket and got buckets or free throws, keeping her team afloat and in front. Ironshell’s free throw with 2:50 to go gave the Warriors a 56-51 lead, but Eicher banked in a long 2 and Olivia Terrones converted a three-point play to knot the score once more.

“Delicia went down and she’s the only senior on our team, and in that situation she’s the one we really turn to to keep us steady,” said Meskwaki coach Patrick Moore. “It was an uncomfortable situation for the other girls out there and they just didn’t handle it real well. The girls were put in a situation we haven’t been in much and we just didn’t handle it as well as maybe we could have.”

Payton Tahahwah drove the lane to give Meskwaki its last lead, 58-56, before Madison Farrington pulled the Mustangs even with a layup with 1:25 to play. Another 3-pointer by Eicher followed, and Maria Rasmusson made 1-of-2 free throws for a 62-58 East Marshall edge.

Jaylee Moore’s putback basket cut the deficit in half, but Farrington found herself ahead of the pack again and Olivia Terrones fired a baseball pass that connected. Eicher added a pair of free throws with 12 seconds left that brought the score to its final margin.

T-R PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE

In addition to Puumala’s team-leading 19 points, Eicher finished with 13, Farrington had 12 and Olivia Terrones added 10. Emily Terrones pitched in five before fouling out, Kodie Hoskey had four points in the first half and Rasmusson scored three points in the second half.

“We tried to pack in our zone and when we did that, East Marshall did a good job finding girls and knocking down some shots,” coach Moore added. “Good offense beats good defense sometimes.”

Ironshell scored a season-high 20 points to lead Meskwaki, while Moore finished with 15 and Tahahwah had 14. Deandra Navarro chipped in five points in an increased role down the stretch with Guevara sidelined.

East Marshall 66, Meskwaki 60

At Meskwaki Settlement

T-R PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE

EAST MARSHALL (7-12) — Emily Terrones 1 2-2 5, Madison Farrington 5 2-2 12, Tylyn Eicher 4 2-2 13, Olivia Terrones 3 4-5 10, Kodie Hoskey 2 0-0 4, Melinda Puumala 7 2-3 19, Abigail Beal 0 0-0 0, Maria Rasmusson 1 1-2 3. TOTALS 23 13-16 66.

MESKWAKI (10-8) — Abigail Ironshell 6 7-10 20, Payton Tahahwah 5 2-3 14, Delicia Guevara 0 0-0 0, Jaylee Moore 6 1-2 15, Tori Lasley 0 4-4 4, Deandra Navarro 1 3-8 5, Leticia Garcia 1 0-0 2. TOTALS 19 17-27 60.

E. MARSHALL 10 12 18 26 — 66

MESKWAKI 18 11 16 15 — 60

3-Point Goals–EM 7 (Puumala 3, Eicher 3, E.Terrones), Meskwaki 5 (Tahahwah 2, Moore 2, Ironshell). Total Fouls–EM 19, Meskwaki 18. Fouled Out–E.Terrones.