Panther girls press Grayhounds

MT. PLEASANT — The Mt. Pleasant girls basketball team was flying around the court on Tuesday night, as the Panthers disrupted the Burlington Grayhounds to the tune of just 13 allowed points.

The Panthers led start to finish in an impressive 49-13 home win, Mt. Pleasant’s third-straight in league play.

Mt. Pleasant’s defense nearly broke the school record for fewest points allowed in a game. The current record is 12 points, but a Grayhound 3-point play in the final two minutes kept Burlington above 12.

“We just decided before the game that we were going to put a little more pressure on them,” said Mt. Pleasant head coach Curt Watson. “I knew they were missing the Stiefel girl, so we figured they would have a little more trouble handling the ball.”

Mylee Stiefel, Burlington’s standout freshman who scores just under 19 points per game, was out with injury. The Panthers pounced on the short-handed Grayhounds by starting the game with an aggressive full-court press.

“I definitely think we stepped it up as a team,” said senior guard Tristian Shull. “It's fun getting up and down the court like that.”

The much deeper Mt. Pleasant team was able to keep fresh bodies running the press. That, and a nice night shooting the ball led to a 21-3 lead after one quarter, and a 37-6 halftime advantage.

“I definitely think we moved the ball a lot better than we normally do,” Shull said. “And when I was on the bench today, it was even more entertaining and more fun to watch.”

The Panthers took a 43-6 lead into the third quarter before benching the starting five. Burlington was able to muster seven in the fourth.

Andrea Lopreato led Mt. Pleasant with 16 points. Shull scored 11. Andi Scott had six. Mackenzie Musselman scored four. Hailey Parrott, Alex Scott, Kate Schimmelpfennig, Juliana Burns, Tori Wilson and Myah Starr each scored two.

The win took Mt. Pleasant to 4-6 overall, but also 3-1 in conference play. Through four games in the SEC, the Panthers are in a three-way tie at the top with Keokuk and Fort Madison.

Mt. Pleasant will now head into winter break, before coming back to play New London on Jan. 2.