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Washington Evening Journal
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Mt. Pleasant sees victory and defeat against Ottumwa
Panther boys grab win on the road, girls fall in home stand
Mt. Pleasant boys and girls basketball were both in action on Monday night against the Bulldogs of Ottumwa.
The Panther girls stayed home to face off against the No. 15 (Class 5A) rated Bulldogs, while the boys headed to Ottumwa.
It was an up and down night for Mt. Pleasant basketball as a whole. The Panther boys picked up a 53-43 victory over the Bulldogs, while the girls were defeated 50-17.
In the boys’ game, the Panthers held a 14-11 lead after the first quarter and they would never trail at a quarters end the rest of the night.
Mt. Pleasant followed up with a game-high 18 points in the second quarter. After giving up just 14 to the Bulldogs in the second frame, the Panthers held onto a 32-25 lead at the break.
Through the second half, the Panthers kept up the pace just edging the Bulldogs 21-18 to seal it.
Nate Stroud led the Panthers with 18 points and eight rebounds. Ian Reid followed with 11. Christian Stacy added 10. Avin Truong and Payton Hagans both ended with six. Zach Newton had two.
The Panther boys improve to 12-5 with the win.
In the girls’ contest, the Panthers played some phenomenal ball through the opening eight minutes.
Ottumwa raced out to an 8-2 lead to the midway point in the first, but a three ball from Myah Starr followed by a two from Juliana Burns kicked started what was an 8-6 run to the end of the quarter. The Panthers trailed by just four, 14-10, after one.
“In the first quarter we played really well,” Mt. Pleasant head coach Curt Watson said. “We came out and gave them a really great game. We took care of the ball and then we just kind of fell off in the second.”
Things shifted drastically in the second as Mt. Pleasant struggled to put the ball in the bucket. The Panthers didn’t score again for over 14 minutes, until the 1:58 mark in the third period.
“Their press really hurt us,” Watson said. “We just didn’t take care of the ball. We ended up with 24 turnovers in the first half. Most of those came in the second quarter.”
During that span, Ottumwa dropped in 31 answered points. In total, the Bulldogs outscored the Panthers 33-2 between the second and third quarter to make it 47-12 heading into the third.
Mt. Pleasant took the fourth 5-3, but it didn’t make a difference.
Myah Starr led the Panthers with six points in the loss. Addison Peck finished with three. Kynlee White, Abby Carthey, Juliana Burns and Paityn Ensminger all ended with two.
