Columbus Wildcat girls’ basketball scored a big conference victory in overtime Friday night, rallying to defeat Lousia-Muscatine 43-36. Columbus led 8-6 in the first quarter and was up two at halftime, but Lousia-Muscatine was able to grab a one-point lead going into the final period. The Wildcats responded and tied the game at 34 at the end of regulation, and strong defense limiting the Falcons to only two points in the extra period was enough to pick up the home victory.

Senior Sara Vela led Columbus in scoring with 14 points, while sophomore point guard Ariana Vergara had a huge all-around night with 11 points, seven rebounds and eight steals. Sophomore forward Aracely Garza netted only three points but pulled down 13 rebounds and reeled in three steals to help the Wildcats improve to 6-5 in the Southeast Iowa Super Conference North and 7-8 overall.

The Columbus boys fell to Louisa-Muscatine 61-42. The Wildcats hung tough, cutting a seven-point deficit down to 27-23 at the half. But they could not produce the offense to keep the Falcons from pulling away. Louisa-Muscatine junior star Ty Northup shined with 32 points, a big reason Columbus drops to 1-8 in conference play and 2-12 overall. Both Wildcat squads take on Pekin tomorrow evening.