Lady Panthers rally to beat Buffalo, fall in semis

Though the Mountain Grove Lady Panthers’ basketball season ended last week in the Class 4, District 10 tournament semifinals in a loss to eventual champion Strafford, the buzz from the week remained from the girls’ first round come-from-behind victory over Buffalo.
The Lady Bison simply couldn’t miss in the first half as they made eight, 3-pointers to take a 16-point lead into halftime at 36-20.
In the third quarter, the Lady Panthers responded with a 18-6 run with the help of Sadie Schober’s 11 points and five from Stella Benson.
Mountain Grove would end the game with a 21-point fourth quarter as Schober scored 10 points and Benson added another five.
In the final minute of play, Schober first tied the game at 55-55 with a score.
Hadley Driskill then picked up a steal and assisted Benson on a fast break layup to take a 57-55 lead with 25 second remaining.
After Buffalo’s center hit a pair of free throws to tie the game, the Lady Bison fouled Schober with 1.9 seconds left.
Schober hit both free throws for a 59-57 lead and a last second heave by Buffalo was short as Mountain Grove won 59-57.
“In the Buffalo game, I felt like we started a little timid,” said Mountain Grove head coach Mike Mallow.
“Which I feel like always leads to struggling to find a flow and creating the rhythm needed to be successful particularly on offense. In the second half we were much more aggressive I think that led to some better shooting. I was just really proud of the fact that the girls didn’t give up. You know the last game of the year down 16 at half it would be pretty easy to kind of mail that in. But our girls just kept fighting and figured out a way to get it done in the end.”
In the loss, Schober led her team with 33 points; Benson had 12; Kaylee Virtue had seven; Briley Curtiss four; Cassidy Behrendsen two; and Hadley Driskill had one point.
In the district semifinals against Strafford, the Lady Indians had a 44-20 run in the first half and cruised to the 74-42 victory.
Schober did score five of her team’s seven points in the second quarter.
Mountain Grove won the third quarter, 14-13, with the help of Benson’s five points and Schober’s four points.
Benson added a pair of 3-pointers in the fourth, but the Lady Panthers were unable to rally.
Benson made three, 3-pointers in the loss and scored a team-high 13 points in her final game as the team’s lone senior. She also had two rebounds and two assists.
“She’s meant a lot to this program over the last four years,” Coach Mallow said.
“You know I started four years ago so we came in together and it’s just been really awesome to see her grow and mature as a young lady and also a player. I’m proud of her and all that she represents.”
Schober added 12 points, five rebounds, two steals and one assist; Curtiss had seven points and 10 rebounds; Driskill had six points and two assists; Marl Melton had two points, four rebounds and one assist; and Virtue had two points, two rebounds, two assists and one steal.
The Lady Panthers season finished with a 16-12 overall record.
“I’m really proud of what the girls accomplished this season,” Coach Mallow said. “Winning 16 games even though we fought through injury I think was really impressive. But more importantly, I’m really impressed with the way they came together and supported each other. I feel like they played with great effort most nights, and I feel like they really improved. We were a lot better as individual players and as a basketball team in February, then we were in November.”