Panther girls pick up first win

MT. PLEASANT — The first four games of the 2022-23 girls basketball season hadn’t gone the way the Panthers had planned. Four early losses, three of which were by single digits, had Mt. Pleasant looking for a win on Tuesday night, and that’s exactly what they got.

After blowing a halftime lead, the Panthers used a big fourth quarter to take down previously unbeaten Oskaloosa 41-32.

“The last couple of games, we’ve lost some close ones,” said Mt. Pleasant head coach Curt Watson. “I thought tonight we did a lot better job of finishing.”

Andrea Lopreato had a red-hot start, collecting nine points in the first quarter to lead the Panthers to an 11-6 advantage. The defense stepped up in the second quarter, holding Oskaloosa to just three more points before halftime.

Kate Schimmelpfennig, who was matched up all night against the 6-foot-3 Dasia Foster of Oskaloosa, stepped out and hit a couple of big shots in an otherwise low-scoring second quarter. Schimmelpfennig had six points in the second quarter and the Panthers led 21-9 at the break.

“Playing someone bigger, it gets a little tough down low,” Schimmelpfennig said. “I got blocked twice, so I was pretty happy with my outside shots. I was hoping to either draw some fouls or make some from the outside.”

The Indians didn’t go away easily, however. Oskaloosa caught fire in the third quarter, hitting a handful of outside shots to score a game-high 15 points in the period. A 15-3 run had the game tied at 24-24.

In the closing seconds of the third, Lopreato threw up a 3-pointer that was off the mark, but she did draw a foul and made all three free throws. That brought the Panthers back to a 27-24 lead after three quarters, and Oskaloosa would never tie it back up.

“They were being kind of aggressive when I shot a three,” Lopreato said. “I took my chance, went up and she fouled me. A lot of Osky fans weren’t happy about that call.”

Lopreato would go on to score 10 points in the fourth. As a team, Mt. Pleasant outscored Oskaloosa 14-8 in the final eight minutes to finally end a close game on the winning side.

“I feel like every game we’ve played we should have won,” Schimmelpfennig said. “It’s just been about finding our groove with each other.”

Lopreato finished the night with 24 points and 17 rebounds. Schimmelfennig ended with 11. Alex Scott scored four, and Andi Scott had two.

Mt. Pleasant (1-4, 0-1) will play its second Southeast Conference game on Friday night, when the Panthers welcome in Keokuk (2-1, 1-0).