SIKESTON, Mo. -- Kiley Bess found herself all alone and heading straight towards the basket.
The Poplar Bluff sophomore was about to put an exclamation point on her fantastic night and solidify a hard-fought, overtime victory over Sikeston with a wide-open layup as the final seconds ticked off.
A big smile ran across her face as the ball rolled around the rim and out.
That was about the only basket she missed on a night the sophomore rewrote the Poplar Bluff record books.
Bess broke the school scoring record with 50 points during an 80-76 overtime win Thursday at the Sikeston Field House.
"I honestly had no idea at the time," Bess said. "I thought I was playing pretty good, but I was just trying to play as hard as I could to win the game. It was a team effort. Not just me. It was a team effort... Just beating that is a blessing."
Bess topped Mary Kalich's single-game record of 45 set in 1991 while also besting the boys record of 44 set by Tyler Hansbrough in 2005.
Bess, who came in averaging 21.1 points and had a previous high of 30 against Cape Central on Nov. 30, finished 15 for 31 from the floor, including 2 for 5 from 3-point range and 18 for 20 from the free-throw line. She also had 14 rebounds and six steals.
"What's crazy is, we're going through that game and I had no idea she was even close," Poplar Bluff coach John David Pattillo said. "She's a special player. There's so many things she can do on the court."
All of her 50 points was needed for Poplar Bluff (10-5, 2-0 SEMO) on a night where just six points was the biggest advantage either team could muster. The lead changed hands 17 times through 36 minutes and Bess was responsible for forcing the overtime and the deciding points down the stretch.
Bess hit two free throws with 13.6 seconds left in regulation to tie the game at 71-all. And when Sikeston led 76-73 with just under two minutes to go in overtime, she trimmed the deficit to two with a free throw and soon picked off a pass to tie the game at 76-all.
After a Sikeston miss fell out of bounds, Bess took her time and ran nearly 30 seconds off the clock until Taydrianna Barnett fouled with 34 seconds remaining. Bess drained both free throws to put the Mules up for good.
She added two more after a Sikeston miss eventually fell out of bounds when Poplar Bluff's Shelby Sievers and Sikeston's Jefonia Biddle tipped the loose ball into the air multiple times before it finally hit off Biddle and behind the basket.
Bess sealed the win with two more free throws.
"It was good for them to finish strong and I'm proud of them for not getting their head down," Pattillo said. "We got down three there and we just recently worked on some late-game situations and talked about it. Our girls played through it and I felt real good about that."
Sikeston (8-8, 1-2) did what they could to try and slow Bess down, but it had little effect. The 5-11 guard torched their 2-3 zone and still found ways to get to the basket against a box-and-1.
"You've got to give Bess props for doing what she did," Sikeston head coach Alisha Wills said. "She wanted it and you could tell. Every time she was going to drive to the basket and she's a heck of a free throw shooter, which is what it came down to at the end."
While Bess put the game away at the line, Sikeston had the chance to do the same throughout. They ended 15 for 34 (44 percent) from the stripe, which included a 6 for 13 effort in the fourth quarter alone.
"We've gone one game where we shot 80 percent on free throws and struggled ever since," Wills said.
A back-and-forth first quarter gave way to Poplar Bluff in the second when Bess poured in 15 of her 20 first-half points on 6 of 8 shooting from the floor. She ended the frame with a five-point flurry to put her team ahead 36-32 at the break.
The Mules went ahead by six in the third but Sikeston closed that gap to one before falling behind 56-53 to enter the fourth.
"They're a good team and they just keep coming at you," Pattillo said of Sikeston. "They have players that can attack the middle of the floor and they're kind of long inside to get to the offensive boards. Everything that they do is pretty tough."
Bess scored 11 in the third and combined for 19 in the fourth quarter and overtime.
"She was attacking the basket and got fouled tonight," Pattillo said. "Kylie scores 50 and, in all reality, we didn't try to force it to her. We played and everybody moved the ball. Good for her. Proud of her."
Senior forward Doni Everts added 12 points, nine rebounds and two blocks while senior forward Shelby Sievers chipped in seven points and eight rebounds for the Mules, who shot 28 for 63 (44 percent) from the floor as a team.
Junior guard Tebrya Benford led Sikeston with 26 points, 12 rebounds and two blocks. Barnett, a sophomore, put up 25 points and 12 boards while junior forward Zaria Blissett-Hall chipped in eight points and 11 rebounds.
Sikeston, which had a five-game winning streak snapped, shot 42 percent (30 for 71) from the field and out-rebounded Poplar Bluff 43-42.
"It's almost like we showed what we're capable of [during that streak], but we still have room to grow," Wills said. "Now is the time when you're reaching that potential and seeking to get better and you want to see that your team can go the distance in a game like this... It all comes back to learning from this and going forward. Hopefully we can build on this."
NOTES
Poplar Bluff won the junior varsity game 33-23. Emma Johnson led with 12 points while Sierra Sievers added eight. ... Bess reached 800 career points in the game, her 42nd. ... The Mules host Thayer, ranked No. 2 in Class 2 by the state coaches, on Monday. ... The postponed game against Naylor has been rescheduled for Jan. 31 with a 5 p.m. JV tipoff.