Panthers drop back-to-back

Mt. Pleasant girls basketball was in a bit of a rut this last week with three straight road matchups.

After suffering a loss to Mid-Prairie on Monday night, the Panthers ended the week with a 60-35 loss to Southeast Conference opponent Keokuk on Friday and followed up with a 74-55 loss to No. 13 (Class 2A) Mediapolis on Saturday.

In a SEC conference swaying game against the Chiefs, Mt. Pleasant hung around in the first half, but Keokuk was blazing in the final two quarter of the evening.

Keokuk scored the first bucket of the night on a three ball just under two minutes into the game and they would never trail.

The Chiefs jumped out to a 8-4 lead, but the Panther’s Kate Schimmelpfennig drilled a three to make it a one point game, 8-7.

That would be a closest the Panthers would come.

Beginning at the 3:04 mark in the first period, a Keokuk two kicked off what would be a 12-5 run to the end of the quarter.

Mt. Pleasant had it at 17-12, but the Chiefs hit a three with 0.1 on the clock to make it a 20-12 game to start the second.

In the second, the Panthers were able to cut it down to five, 24-19, with a 7-4 run capped off by a Juliana Burns and-1 at the 4:12 mark in the quarter.

The offensive woes hit the Panthers from then on out though and Keokuk took advantage.

Mt. Pleasant scored just one more point in the quarter as Keokuk elevated its lead to double digits outscoring the Panthers 9-1.

At the half, Mt. Pleasant trailed 33-20.

In the third, Keokuk turned it up a notch offensively.

The started the quarter with a 7-2 run with 4:56 remaining.

From then to the end of the quarter the Panthers and Chiefs both finished with 11.

Mt. Pleasant’s Tristian Shull drilled a three as time expired to get it below 20, 51-33, heading into the fourth.

In the final quarter of the night, the Panthers scored just two points to the Chiefs nine, sealing the loss.

Andrea Lopreato finished with a team-high 15 points in the loss.

With the win, Keokuk takes a commanding hold of the top spot in the SEC at 7-1.

Mt. Pleasant sits two games back at 5-3.

Against the No. 13 Bullettes, Mt. Pleasant trailed 17-9 after one.

Mediapolis followed with a 24-17 second to make it 41-26 at halftime.

The Panthers never gave up though, answering back out of the gate with a 16-10 quarter to bring it back to single digits heading into the fourth, 51-42.

In the end, the Panthers couldn’t bring it back to even as the Bullettes ended with a 23-13 fourth to win it.

With the two losses, Mt. Pleasant drops to 9-10 on the season.