Fort Madison frustrates Mt. Pleasant girls

MT. PLEASANT - A red-hot Fort Madison squad silenced Mt. Pleasant's offense in a Southeast Conference girls game on Friday night. The Panthers were rattled by the Bloodhounds' zone defense in a 36-31 loss.

Mt. Pleasant could never get into a rhythm and that was evident in the first half. Despite a solid outing defensively, the Panthers scored just 12 points over the opening two quarters. Andrea Lopreato led Mt. Pleasant with five points at half, but the Panthers went into the locker room trailing 13-12.

Mt. Pleasant's defense kept the Panthers in it in the third quarter, but baskets just weren't falling. Tristian Shull put up five points in the third, but the rest of the team combined for just one, and the Bloodhounds led 23-18 after three.

Fort Madison opened up a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter. Mt. Pleasant used a full-court press to cut the lead back to five, but that's as low as it would get.

'They played a really good zone tonight,” said Mt. Pleasant head coach Curt Watson. 'They were moving and making it hard for us to get it inside.”

Lopreato scored seven points in the fourth quarter and finished with 12 on the game. Karsyn Lamm had six points. Shull and Emma Huckabone finished with five apiece. Kenna Lamm scored two, and Ava Lowery had one.

The Panthers were the seventh-straight victim for the Fort Madison girls, who have risen to 8-1 overall and 3-1 in conference play. The Bloodhounds snapped Mt. Pleasant's three-game winning streak, dropping the Panthers to 5-5 overall and 3-2 in the SEC.

'Our winning streak is over,” Coach Watson said. 'We've got to start a new one on Monday.”

The Panthers will be on the road Monday, when they head south to take on Holy Trinity Catholic.