Lady Panthers win Senior Night beating Salem

It was a special senior night for Mountain Grove’s Stella Benson last Friday night as her Lady Panthers cruised to a big 58-42 win over Salem.
The win ended their South Central Association (SCA) Conference schedule with a 5-2 record.
The Lady Panthers jumped out to an early 17-6 lead as Sadie Schober and Benson both scored five points.
Salem rallied in the second quarter to cut the lead to five at halftime
In a 17-point third quarter, Briley White scored five points and Schober added another four points in a stretch where seven different Lady Panthers found the net.
Schober took over the game in the fourth quarter by scoring 11 of her team-high 21 points to give Mountain Grove the 16-point victory.
Benson added 10 points; Marli Melton and White had nine; Bailey Curtiss five; Kaylee Virtue two; and Cassidy Behrendsen had one point.
The game went into overtime when the Lady Panthers traveled to Willow Springs and lost a heart breaker, 58-56.
Benson hit a big 3-pointer to tie the game with under a minute to play.
Unfortunately, the Lady Bears hit the go-ahead shot with six seconds remaining.
Late in the fourth quarter, the Lady Panthers were up two with under 30 seconds left in regulation.
A questionable foul call led to a Lady Bears’ player going to the free throw line with 18.9 seconds left.
As Mountain Grove missed their last four free throws, two earlier and two in the final seconds, the Lady Bears would score a layup to send the game into overtime.
Most of the game was a back-and-forth contest.
The teams were tied at 15-15 in the first quarter as Schober scored seven points and Benson added five.
The Lady Panthers made another six free throws in the second quarter and they made 13-of-16 in the first half for a 28-24 halftime edge.
Benson hit a pair of 3-pointers and scored eight points in the third to open up a seven-point lead.
The Lady Bears ended regulation on a 12-5 run to send the game into overtime.
Schober scored a team-high 20 points for Mountain Grove.
Benson had 19; White six; Curtiss four; Hadley Driskill three; Melton and Behrendsen two points; and Virtue two.
Mountain Grove’s record is now 14-11 on the season.