Lopreato, Brumbaugh lead Panthers past Bears

DANVILLE — It took the Mt. Pleasant girls one half to find their rhythm Monday night on the road against Danville.

For the majority of the first half both team threw punches, but neither could find a knockout. Then came the Andrea Lopreato and Jadan Brumbaugh show.

Lopreato scored 14 in the second half, while Brumbaugh followed with 12 to lead the Panthers to a 67-54 victory.

Mt. Pleasant head coach Curt Watson said that Brumbaugh has improved greatly since the beginning of the season.

“Jadan is just getting better and better as the year goes on,” Watson said. “She didn’t play basketball last year and you could tell at the start of the year, but she’s getting better and better. When she’s underneath the basket, shes tough to stop. She’s tall and she’s got long arms. She’s a tough matchup for anybody.”

It wasn’t smooth sailing for Mt. Pleasant.

The Bears brought relentless up-tempo full court pressure the entire game, all while subbing five-in and five-out every few minutes. The Panthers had just six players dressed for the contest, due to an injury to starting guard Tristian Shull, but Mt. Pleasant was able to prevailed.

“Kenna (Lamm) and Andrea don’t get to come out very often,” Watson said. “They played the whole game tonight, and they played the whole game against Fairfield. They’re two great players and great leaders for us. I think Elsie (Lange), Kate (Schimmelpfennig), Jadan, and Andi (Scott) all know their role. They’re just getting better as the year goes on. I couldn’t be more proud of this group. When we get Tristian back it’s just going to make us better and better.”

Early on, Mt. Pleasant struggled to find any offensive momentum as any sort of run by the Panthers was thwarted by a Danville three ball. The largest lead in the first half was held by the Panthers, 9-5, in the first three minutes of the game.

After thirteen lead changes over the course of the first half, Mt. Pleasant found themselves down 38-36 at the half. The game changed from then on out.

In the third, the Panthers began to find their footing. Mt. Pleasant used an 15-10 third, which included a 11-5 run to end the quarter, to take a 51-48 lead heading into the fourth.

“We told them they were being kind lazy in the first half,” Watson said. “We had to come out and play Panther basketball, get after it, take care of the ball, rebound and get out to the shooters. To the girls credit, I thought they did a very good job of that.”

Danville came out in the fourth and grabbed back the lead, 53-51, from a quick five points, but it was all Mt. Pleasant from then on out.

The Panthers went on a scoring spree, ending the game with 16-1 run to seal the win. Mt. Pleasant outscored Danville 31-16 in the second half.

Lopreato filled the stat sheet, ending with a 23 point, 14 rebound and 10 assist triple-double. Brumbaugh followed with a double-double, 20 points and 12 rebounds. Kenna Lamm and Elsie Lange both finished with 11. Andi Scott added two.

Mt. Pleasant improves to 6-8 on the season and will be back in action on Friday with a Southeast Conference matchup against Washington on the road.