MINONK – The Fieldcrest girls basketball team was already facing a challenge in rival Eureka to start Monday’s Heart of Illinois Conference midseason showdown, but things became even tougher when starting point guard Kaitlin White had to leave the game with a lower-body injury less than five minutes in and didn’t return.

Despite White’s absence, the Knights held a four-point lead at halftime, then battled back from a six-point deficit with two minutes remaining in regulation to force overtime.

However, the Hornets outscored the hosts 13-6 in the extra four minutes to earn a 68-61 victory – their fourth in a row – to give Fieldcrest its first conference loss and also grab possession of the McLean County/HOIC traveling trophy, which the Knights took from them at last season’s league tournament.

“When Kaitlin went down, she’s a very tough player to replace, but I thought we regrouped pretty well,” Fieldcrest coach Mitch Neally said, his squad now 17-2 overall and 7-1 in the HOIC. “But losing her, that takes away so much of what we do on both ends of the floor. We had to adjust our game plan almost right from the start. We knew tonight wasn’t going to be like the first meeting, but having to adjust to losing your point guard in the first minutes of the game really made things tough.”

In overtime, Ellie Cahill scored three of her game-high 24 points for Eureka (16-5, 7-1), while Ella Ausmus netted five of her 23 points and grabbed four of her game-best 13 rebounds to go along with four blocks.

“The biggest difference in the game was that Eureka made more big plays when they had to,” Neally said. “Ausmus seems to always have big games here. I remember two years ago when she was a sophomore, we lost by four and she had a big night then as well. We had a plan of how we wanted to guard her, but I don’t think we executed it as well as we should have.

“We had some chances both late and in overtime. [Ashlyn] May and [Macy] Gochanour had huge buckets for us in the final two minutes of regulation, and then [Haley] Carver made a big-time 3 to get us to extra time. I’m proud of the effort my team gave. They played their guts out. We just came up short.”

Fieldcrest was led by Carolyn Megow’s 21 points, four rebounds and three steals. May had 15 points, three assists and three steals, while Riley Burton posted a double-double of 11 points and 11 rebounds. Carver finished with nine points.

Fieldcrest had beaten Eureka 61-29 in the championship game of the St. Bede Lady Bruin Classic on Dec. 28.

“While it’s not an excuse, we played four games in 31 hours, and I just felt when we came back out after halftime of that championship game, we were dead tired,” Eureka coach Jerry Prina said. “It showed. They just made us pay ... they hammered us.

“We made a number of adjustments coming into tonight, and we figured out some things. We really tightened up our defense, and the ball has started going through the hoop for us in the three games since, and tonight was another a solid effort as well.”

Eureka led 14-12 after one quarter and 41-39 after three, while Fieldcrest held a 31-27 margin at the intermission.

“Let’s be honest: When White went down, that is a big blow. She does so much for them,” Prina said. “Our prayers go out to her that she’s OK and that it’s just a minor injury. I know I’m hoping she’s good to go, and hopefully these teams can meet again in the championship game of the McLean County/HOIC Tournament in a couple weeks and we can settle this teeter-totter back-and-forth.”

Fieldcrest will host another rival in El Paso-Gridley at 7 p.m. Thursday before either Fisher or EPG at 1 p.m. Monday in the quarterfinals of the HOIC/McLean County Tournament. Fieldcrest won the title at the event for the first time in program history last season.