Lady Panthers nearly beat No. 1 Chadwick, 32-30

Much like the Mountain Grove boys basketball team did in giving the No. 1 team in Class 1 (Bunker) all they could handle two weeks ago, it was the Lady Panthers turn last Thursday when they hosted the top girls team in Class 1, the Chadwick Lady Cardinals.
Just like the Bunker game that came down to the wire, so did the match-up last week for the girls.
The Lady Panthers trailed by one with 20.2 seconds left on the clock after officials did not call a charge, giving Mountain Grove their fifth team foul leading to a pair of made free throws.
With 4.9 seconds, a near turnover at mid-court was overturned as Sadie Schober did not have control.
Getting another shot at an inbound play, Mountain Grove would turn the ball over on the inbound.
Chadwick added a late free throw and held on for the 32-30 win.
The Lady Cardinals are now 12-3 with their lone losses coming to state-ranked teams in Marshfield, Miller and Reeds Spring.
Early in the contest, the Lady Panthers were taking it to Chadwick.
They opened on a 10-1 run with the help of Stella Benson’s six points.
Though Chadwick closed the lead to four by the end of the frame, they made just 4-of-16 shots from the field.
The roles reversed in the second quarter as Mountain Grove missed their first six shots and the Lady Cardinals went on an 8-0 run.
Mountain Grove responded with two Marli Melton baskets, but that was all for the Lady Panthers as they trailed 22-17 at the break.
Up two, Chadwick then dribbled around 1:30 off the clock before a missed shot.
They later held the ball for around four total minutes as the Lady Panthers’ defense did not play up on the person with the ball.
Kaylee Virtue scored all three of her team’s points as Mountain Grove entered the fourth quarter down two.
Hadley Driskill and Benson both exchanged 3-pointers with Chadwick answering with one of their own as Mountain Grove was up 26-25 just past the midway point.
Sadie Schober scored a go-ahead basket at the 1:33 mark. Virtue would later assist Melton for a score with 43 seconds remaining and a 30-29 edge before the events of the final minute of action.
Benson finished with nine points, two rebounds and one assist; Schober tallied eight points, seven rebounds and four assists; Melton had seven points, six rebounds and one steal; Virtue ad three points, three rebounds and one assist; and Driskill had three points and one rebound. Briley Curtiss did have four rebounds in the loss.