Panther girls go cold over weekend games

MT. PLEASANT - The Mt. Pleasant girls had a rough stretch this weekend playing their first two games of 2020. The Panthers blew a halftime lead at Burlington on Friday, falling 31-26 in a Southeast Conference game, and then dropped a nonconference home game 39-23 against Central Lee on Saturday.

Things were looking good for the Panthers through half of Friday night's game. Mt. Pleasant led 13-5 after the first quarter and 20-15 at halftime. Mt. Pleasant scored just six points in the second half, however. The lead was cut to 22-20 after three quarters, and Burlington outscored Mt. Pleasant 11-4 in the final period to steal the game.

Mt. Pleasant was co-led by Emma Huckabone and Elli Liechty. The duo scored six points each. Lydia Stewart and Isabel Ashton each scored five points, and Avery Sutter had four. Andrea Lopreato didn't score but led the team in rebounds, with eight.

The Panthers stayed cold in the first half on Saturday. Mt. Pleasant scored just six points in the first half of their nonconference game, getting outscored 26-6 in the first two periods.

Mt. Pleasant won the second half, beating Central Lee 17-13 in the final two quarters, but they were never able to cut the lead back down to single digits.

'We're just having trouble scoring,” Mt. Pleasant coach Curt Watson said on Saturday. 'We j ust can't make shots. It was the same thing last night. I thought we had good looks in the first half, we just couldn't knock them down.”

Stewart finished Saturday's game with seven points. Lopreato, Ashton and Tristian Shull scored four apiece. Liechty and Huckabone scored two points each.

Mt. Pleasant is now 2-7 overal and 2-2 in the SEC. They'll host Mediapolis in a nonconference game on Tuesday, Jan. 7.