Lady Panthers add pair of big SCA victories

The Mountain Grove Lady Panthers’ basketball team kept their chances of winning a possible share of the South Central Association (SCA) Conference title after picking up a pair of SCA wins last week.
They started on Feb. 2 by traveling to Ava and leaving the Lady Bears’ court with a 51-43 SCA victory.
It was a close contest in the first half. Sadie Schober scored six of her team’s early 13 points for a two-point edge.
In the second quarter, Kaylee Virtue made a pair of 3-pointers to help her team enter halftime up 25-23.
Schober scored seven points in the third to move the lead to four points entering the final frame.
Stealla Benson’s four points in the fourth quarter helped the Lady Panthers to pull away for good.
Benson scored 18 points; Virtue had 10; Schober eight; and Cassidy Behrendsen scored five points.
They ended their week in a sloppy game that saw both Mountain Grove and Cabool combine to turn the ball over 61 total times.
Fortunately, the Lady Panthers came out on the right side of a 60-24 victory.
The game reached a dozen turnovers just three minutes in as Mountain Grove led 5-1.
Schober had three fouls in the quarter, but Virtue’s seven points gave Mountain Grove an early 18-1 lead.
The Lady Bulldogs missed all nine shots from the field in the frame and made just 1-of-6 free throw attempts.
Hadley Driskill hit a pair of 3-pointers in the second quarter and Benson added five points to put Mountain Grove up 20 entering halftime.
In the third quarter, the Lady Panthers made just one of their first eight shots.
Schober would score seven points in the third to expand the lead to 26 entering the fourth quarter.
Mountain Grove ended the game on a 12- 2 run with the help of Schober’s six points.
She finished the game with a team-high 16 points, nine rebounds, three steals and one assist.
Benson added 15 points, three rebounds, three assists and three steals; Driskill scored eight points, three steals, two assists and one rebound; Virtue had seven points, five rebounds, five steals and two assists; Briley Curtiss had six points, five rebounds and two steals; Marli Melton had four points, seven rebounds, two steals and one block; Briley White added two points, six rebounds, two steals and one assist; and Behrendsen had two points, two steals, one rebound and one assist. Mountain Grove’s record is now 4-1 in the SCA and has a 12-10 overall record.