Lady Panthers defeat two teams for second time this season

The Mountain Grove Lady Panthers’ basketball team defeated two teams for the second time this season last week, the same two teams they battled for tournament championships earlier in the season.
Back on Feb. 10, the Lady Panthers defeated a solid Licking team for the second time this season. In the rematch of the 11th Annual Mountain Grove Holiday Tournament finals back in December, Mountain Grove picked up a 47-38 victory.
The Lady Wildcats opened the game with a 12-5 run as Raylee Stenzel scored all of Mountain Grove’s five early points.
The Lady Panthers rallied in the second quarter with 16 points after Landry Golden scored seven points and Stella Benson added five points.
After trailing by two at halftime, the Lady Panthers’ defense would go on to hold Licking to just 15 total points in the final two quarters.
Golden scored another seven points in the third while Stenzel had eight in a 16-point fourth quarter to seal the nine-point win.
Golden finished the game with 18 points; Stenzel tallied 15 points; Benson had five points; Sadie Schober had six points; and Hadley Driskill added three points.
In a rematch of the 11th Annual Fordland Invitational championship, also back in December, the Lady Panthers once again beat Fordland by 11 points, 52-41.
Mountain Grove held just a three point lead early with the help of Stenzel’s seven points.
The Lady Panthers then put together a 19-point second quarter with the help of a pair of Stenzel 3-pointers and Golden’s four points.
Up 13 at the break, three Lady Panthers’ 3-pointers from Rowen Kelly, Stenzel and Benson helped them hold off a Fordland charge.
Mountain Grove made 7-of-10 free throws in the fourth quarter to seal the win.
Stenzel scored a team-high 19 points; Golden added 11; Kelly had nine points with the help of three, 3-pointers; Benson added seven points; and Schober scored three points.
Their lone loss of the week came against one of the best Class 1 teams in the state as they fell at Chadwick,
The Lady Cardinals opened the game on a 13-4 run and entered halftime with a 27-14 lead.
Golden provided the lone offensive spark with five points in the first two quarters.
Kaylee Virtue, Benson and Driskell each made 3-pointers in the third quarter, but the Lady Panthers would find themselves down 12 entering the final frame.
Chadwick outscored the Lady Panthers, 17-7, in the final eight minutes to pick up the win.
Benson finished with a team-high 12 points; Stenzel added six points; Golden had five points; while Kelly, Virtue, Schober and Driskell each had three points.