Mt. Pleasant girls eliminated

TIFFIN - The Mt. Pleasant girls' basketball team showed a lot of heart in their regional opener on Wednesday night. After a frustrating second quarter, the Panthers came back from a 10-point halftime deficit to tie the game and make favored Clear Creek-Amana sweat, but couldn't quite pull off the comeback victory, eventually falling 56-44.

The Panthers and Clippers hit back-and-forth throughout the first period, despite a slow start offensively for both teams. Maddie Williamson opened the scoring early with a three-pointer, and fellow senior Sadie Carrasco scored four points to lead the Panthers, but CCA led 11-9, thanks in part to a nine-point quarter from leading scorer Karsyn Stratton.

Stratton continued to burn Mt. Pleasant in the second half, and the Panthers went ice cold from both the field and the line. Mt. Pleasant went down double-digits in the second period, scoring just six points and trailing 25-15 at the halftime break.

'We just told them that we probably played one of our worst halves that first half,” head coach Curt Watson said after the game. 'We missed I think seven layups, and a ton of free throws, but we were only 10 points down. We said that's easy, we can come back easily from that if we just take one possession at a time.”

The Panthers came roaring back in the third quarter. The Panthers attacked the basket over and over, and the defense had Stratton temporarily in check. Mt. Pleasant eventually tied the game at 28-28 on a couple of free throws by Williamson.

With the game tied at 28-28, Clipper sharpshooter Meagan Harvey knocked down a three-pointer to give CCA a 31-28 lead. Williamson came down and hit a three-pointer of her own, but Harvey knocked down a second three to get back the lead, at 34-31.

Harvey scored five more points shortly after her two three-pointers. She converted a three-point play, and dove inside for an easy layup to finish the quarter with 11 points. Williamson scored seven for the Panthers in the third quarter, but a once tied game was now 43-35 in favor of CCA.

'She's probably their best three-point shooter,” Watson said about Harvey's big run. 'We told them we had to cut Stratton down and let somebody else beat us, and to her credit, she came out and knocked two big threes down to come back and turn the game around.”

The Panthers had CCA's lead back to four points in the fourth quarter. Williamson scored 10 more in the final eight minutes, and Harvey fouled out in the last few minutes, but Mt. Pleasant couldn't hit the shots, or free throws, when they needed to most.

Williamson scored 22 points in her last high school game, which put her three points ahead of former teammate Kalynn Batey on the all-time Panther scoring list. Williamson finished her career sixth all time in points at MPCHS, bumping Batey back to seventh. Williamson also led the team with four steals.

Carrasco had a nice night of her own to finish out her high school career. She scored 11 points and pulled down a team-leading seven rebounds, five of which were offensive. She also had the only block of the day for Mt. Pleasant.

Emma Huckabone finished the night with seven points. Isabel Ashton had five. Sydni Coleman scored two. Lydia Steart had one, and Elli Liechty had a team-leading three assists.

The Panthers finished the season 6-15. CCA moved on to play at Fairfield on Saturday, Feb. 16. Washington, who knocked off Oskaloosa 44-28 in their regional opener, will play at No. 1 Marion in the other semifinal.