After winning all three of their contests last week, things are looking good in the home stretch of the season for the Mountain Grove Lady Panthers’ basketball team.
They are now riding a five game winning streak and have compiled a 17-5 overall record with just two weeks remaining in the schedule before the postseason begins on Feb. 26.
They kept their South Central Association (SCA) Conference hopes alive on Feb. 6 when they hosted a struggling Houston team and cruised to a 54-18 victory. Mountain Grove is now 4-1 in the SCA.
Mountain Grove opened the game on an 11-0 run as the Lady Tiers missed all seven of their shots and turned the ball over seven times during the stretch.
Campbell Welch lit up the scoreboard with 13 of the Lady Panthers’ points as Mountain Grove led, 21-4, at the end of the first quarter.
An 11-0 run spilled into the second quarter as the Lady Panthers found themselves up, 32-4.
Mountain Grove took a 36-7 lead into halftime after making 16-of-34 shots from the field. Meanwhile, the Lady Tigers made just 2-of-13 shots and turned the ball over 21 times.
A 12-3 margin in the third quarter was followed by a mercy clock running in the fourth quarter to help Mountain Grove seal a 36-point win.
Welch scored a team-high 23 points and four steals; Sadie Schober tallied eight points, four rebounds, four assists, three steals and one block; Raylee Stenzel had seven points, five rebounds and three steals; Stella Benson tallied five points, two rebounds, two assists and two steals; Kailyn Wake scored four points, three steals, two rebounds and two assists; Landry Golden had four points, eight rebounds, one steal, one assist and one block; Hadley Driskill scored three points with one steal.
Another big win came at the end of the week when the Lady Panthers handed Fordland a loss for the second time this season. After beating them to win the Fordland Invitational back in December, they gave the Lady Eagles just their sixth loss on the same of the year by a 41-34 margin.
The teams went back-and-forth in the first half as the Lady Panthers held a slim 18-17 lead at the break.
Welch scored four points in the opening frame and Golden added three points in the second quarter.
Fordland opened the second half with a big 15-5 third quarter to take over the game and enter the final quarter with a nine point lead.
The Lady Panthers responded to the challenge by outscoring Fordland, 18-2, to win the game by seven.
Welch hit two 3-pointers and scored seven of her team-high 17 points in the final frame.
Stenzel scored nine points; Golden added six; Schober had four points; Benson added a late 3-pointer for three points; and Taylor Hicks scored two points.
Against Plato to open the week, the Lady Panthers held a 22-14 first quarter lead and never looked back in a 66-49 victory.
Schober scored seven points in the opening frame while Welch had six points in the second quarter to help the Lady Panthers take an 18-point lead into halftime.
Both Rowen Kelly and Welch scored four points in the third quarter. As for the fourth, Golden had six points and Benson scored four points to help seal the 17-point victory.
Welch scored a team-high 17 points; Schober added 11; Golden scored 10 points; Kelly had seven points; both Benson and Stenzel had six points; Wake had five points; and Hicks scored four points.
