After their impressive three game winning streak last week, the Mountain Grove Lady Panthers basketball has 10 wins in a season for the first time since the 2016-2017 campaign.
Their big victory of the week came when they knocked off South Central Association (SCA) Conference rival Salem, 46-43. This is the same Lady Tigers team that beat the Lady Panthers by 11 points in the Norwood tournament in December.
In the rematch, both teams struggled offensively in the first half.
Kaily Wake had two, 3-pointers in the first quarter while Reagan Hoerning had four points before halftime in a 17-17 game.
Raylee Stenzel led the Lady Panthers’ offensive charge in the third quarter with two, 3-pointers and a total of 10 points. Wake added her third, 3-pointer of the game to help Mountain Grove to a 30-26 lead.
In the fourth quarter, Mountain Grove scored just eight points in the frame.
Salem hit two late 3-pointers and eventually tied the game to send the contest into overtime.
In the overtime session, Jozey MacPherson picked up the scoring with five points.
Mountain Grove would outscore Salem, 8-5, and won the game by three points.
Stenzel scored a team-high 14 points. Wake added 12 points; Hoerning had nine points; Campbell Welch had six points; and MacPherson added five points, all in overtime.
Before the big win over the Lady Tigers, the Lady Panthers cruised to a 49-39 win over Fordland.
The Lady Panthers trailed in the first quarter in spite of 3-pointers from both MacPherson and Stenzel.
Campbell Welch added a 3-pointer in the second quarter as the Lady Panthers still trailed 20-15 at halftime.
After halftime, Mountain Grove’s offense exploded for 22 points as Campbell Welch had three, 3-pointers for nine points.
The Lady Panthers won the third quarter, 22-10.
Mountain Grove then made 7-of-8 free throws in the final frame to seal the 10-point win.
Campbell Welch finished the game with five, 3-pointers and 17 points.
Stenzel tallied 10 points; Hoerning had eight points; both Wake and MacPherson had six points; while Destinie Chadwell scored two points.
The Lady Panthers began their week with a 61-43 win over Plato.
Mountain Grove led 34-19 at halftime as Campbell Welch made two, 3-pointers for eight points.
MacPherson scored nine points in the first two quarters as the Lady Panthers took a 15-point edge.
Stenzel’s eight points in the third quarter sparked a 15-point third quarter as the Lady Panthers ended up cruising to a 18-point win.
Both MacPherson and Stenzel scored a team-high 15 points; Hoerning scored 11 points; Campbell Welch had eight points; Wake had seven points; while CJ Hines scored five points.
