Lopreato’s 31 leads Panther girls past Washington

MT. PLEASANT — Andrea Lopreato dumped in 31 points and the Mt. Pleasant girls basketball team wiped away a five-game losing streak on Friday night in a Southeast Conference win over Washington. The Panthers pulled out a 61-30 victory for their first SEC win of the year.

It was a stagnant first few minutes of basketball before Washington’s Maci Williams knocked down a couple of free throws to give the Demons an early 2-0 lead. Mt. Pleasant would respond with the next nine points and hold a 9-2 advantage after one quarter.

Business picked up in the second quarter, especially for the Panthers, who poured in 24 points in eight minutes. Mt. Pleasant’s full-court press pushed the pace and the Panthers found themselves with a commanding 35-14 halftime lead.

“I'm very proud of them,” said Mt. Pleasant head coach Curt Watson. “We got in the passing lanes, and I thought our full-court press did really good tonight.”

The Panthers scored in bunches with Lopreato and Kenna Lamm combining for 30 of Mt. Pleasant’s 35 points. Lopreato had 19 of those at the break.

“I thought tonight was her best game of the year,” Watson said about his leading scorer. She put it all together.“

Mt. Pleasant continued to rack up points throughout the second half, and the Panthers stayed in control for the rest of the night.

Lopreato’s 31-point output also came with 10 rebounds. After the game, she credited Lamm for her work on the fast break, especially in the absence of starting point guard Tristian Shull.

“With Tristian out, Kenna is a big step up,” Lopreato said. “She’s a track star so I can just throw it down to her.”

Lamm finished the night with 16 points. Jadan Brumbaugh and Kate Schimmelpfennig had five points apiece, and Elsie Lange chipped in four.

Washington’s Alex Murphy and Lauren Hinrichsen each finished the night with eight points. Both players put up six of those in the second half.

Williams, Elyse Hunt, Kendall Hinrichsen and Kaylin Long all finished the night with three points. Makenna Conrad scored two.

For Washington, it was a second-straight loss after picking up the first victory of the year last Friday. The Demons have scored under 40 points in all but one game.

“That's been our problem all year long,” said Washington head coach Shannon Rugg. “We just don't score the basketball very good right now.”

Rugg said he was proud of his team for fighting for all four quarters despite the loss.

“That's what Washington kids do,” Rugg said. “We're going to show up and we're going to play hard.”

Mt. Pleasant moved to 2-6 overall and 1-2 in conference play with the win. They’ll play Burlington on the road on Tuesday. Washington (1-6, 1-2) gets defending-SEC champion Fort Madison at home.