Panther girls go cold against Ottumwa

The beginning of the schedule has truly been murderers row for the Mt. Pleasant girls' basketball team this season. The Panthers played another tough team in Ottumwa, the No. 14 team in Class 5A.

Ottumwa's defense stifled Mt. Pleasant all game long, holding the Panthers under 30 points. The Bulldogs didn't light up the scoreboard but did enough to run away from with a 20-point win, defeating the hosting Panthers 48-28.

'It was just really hard to score tonight,” Panther coach Curt Watson said after the loss. 'Defensively, I didn't think we played that bad. Offensively, we just need to figure something out.”

The first quarter was the highest scoring period of the game. Ottumwa hit a number of shots early and took an 18-8 lead into the second quarter. Mt. Pleasant was led by Isabel Ashton, who scored four points in the first eight minutes.

The Panthers had trouble getting buckets in the second quarter. Ottumwa won the period 10-6 and led 28-14 at halftime. Six different Panthers scored in the first half to get to their 14 points.

Mt. Pleasant continued to have trouble scoring in the third quarter. Ottumwa protected the rim all night, but they were especially stingy in the third quarter. The Panthers put up just three points in the period and trailed 37-19 after three.

The Panthers had points from six different players in the fourth quarter, but nobody scored more than two points. Still, it was the highest scoring output for Mt. Pleasant all day, splitting points 11-11 with Ottumwa in the last eight minutes. When the final buzzer sounded, the Panthers trailed by 20.

Nine different Panthers scored in the loss but nobody had over five points. Ashton and Lydia Stewart both ended the day with five to lead the way.

Emma Huckabone and Maddie Williamson each had four points. Grace Bittle, Sydni Coleman, Emma Rugg, Elli Liechty and Sadie Carrasco all scored two points.

It was the third-straight game where eight or more Panthers scored, but Mt. Pleasant hasn't hit 40 points offensively in any of the games. Coach Watson says his team is still trying to figure out who's going to put points up this year.

'We're still trying to find our team chemistry a little bit,” Watson says. 'I think Maddie is doing a goos job at trying to run the point, but the focus is to stop her, and we've just got to have some other girls step up.”

The Panthers will be able to put the first three games behind them if they can score the road upset in their next game. Mt. Pleasant will take on No. 9 Fairfield in their Southeast Conference opener on Friday, Nov. 30.