Mountain Grove Panthers cruise past area rivals Ava and Cabool

The Mountain Grove Panthers’ basketball team kept their hopes of winning at least a share of the South Central Association (SCA) Conference title alive last week after adding two more victories, this time coming against two area rivals.
On Feb. 11, the Panthers used a 17-6 second quarter run to pull away from Ava on Hoop Queen night, 52-32.
Kale Gardner scored six of his team’s seven points in the opening quarter as Mountain Grove found themselves down 9-7 early.
In the second quarter, Aden Estep had seven points while both Brody Emery and Gardner scored four points to take a 23-15 lead into halftime.
Mountain Grove’s defense kept on the pressure by holding the Bears to just two points in the third quarter.
Gardner had six points in the third while Sam Peterson added six points in the fourth to help the Panthers pull away for the 20-point win.
Gardner finished the game with a team-high 20 points; Peterson added 10 points; Emery tallied eight points; Estep scored seven points; both Eli Golden and Destin Unger had three points; and JP Dickey scored two points.
Three days later, the Panthers traveled to nearby Cabool and left with a 62-23 win.
Mountain Grove opened the contest with a 20-spot in the first quarter.
Gardner and Emery both scored nine points in the frame.
Gardner then added another eight points in a 17-point second quarter to take a 23-point lead into halftime.
Mountain Grove’s defense held the Bulldogs to nine points in the third quarter and to no points in the final eight minutes to seal the win.
A team-high of 19 points was scored by Gardner; Emery tallied 13 points; Cooper Hoerning had eight points; Peterson added six points; Braydon Curtis and Golden had four points; Brandon Rottman added a late 3-pointer for three points; Brady Harris and Estep both scored two points; while Unger had one point.