Panthers fight to the end, can’t complete comeback

FORT MADISON — Mt. Pleasant did everything it could to keep its season alive on Wednesday night against Fort Madison.

Despite the heart and fight shown by the Panther squad, maybe it wasn’t meant to be as they came up just short to the Bloodhounds 44-38.

One quarter made the difference in the regional first round bout, as Mt. Pleasant won three of the four quarters.

Mt. Pleasant trailed by as much as 15 in the contest and heading into the second half the Panthers were down 28-13.

“In that first half, we just didn’t play well,” Mt. Pleasant head coach Curt Watson said. “We had some calls go the other way and we just let them get into our head. That was one of the talks at halftime, just go out and play our game.”

From then on out, Mt. Pleasant began to claw back into it.

The third quarter set the tone for the rest of the game.

Andrea Lopreato and Tristian Shull scored back-to-back buckets to start the second half, cutting the Bloodhounds lead to 11, 28-17.

Fort Madison answered back with a pair of threes split by a Lopreato two to push the Bloodhounds lead back to 15, 34-19, with 5:48 to go.

From that point on, the Panthers gained back the momentum.

Lopreato scored eight straight to the end of the quarter to Fort Madison’s four to make it a nine points ballgame, 38-27, heading into the fourth.

In the fourth, Alex Scott converted a pair of free throws to cut it to nine, 38-29.

Fort Madison scored a pair at the 5:09 mark making it a 40-29 game, but neither team would score again for two minutes.

Shull dropped in a jumper from the corner, cutting it back to nine, 40-31, with 3:13 remaining. Lopreato followed with seven straight over the next 1:30 to bring it to two, 40-38 with 1:45 to go.

“The girls never gave up,” Watson said. “I thought our defense got a lot better in the second half. We really got after it. We did a lot better job rebounding in the second half as well.”

On the next possession for Fort Madison, Lopreato came up with the steal and rushed down the court. She was fouled on the layup attempt, giving the Panthers a chance to tie.

However, Lopreato landed awkwardly, injuring her ankle on the play and was unable to return to the game with 1:28 to go.

The Panther’s Addison Peck took the foul shot, but both narrowly missed off the back iron.

Fort Madison responded with a two. The Panthers had a few chances at bringing it to one, but they couldn’t get it the shots to fall.

Mt. Pleasant outscored Fort Madison, 25-19, in the second half, while the Bloodhounds took the first half 28-13. The Panthers won the first quarter 7-6, but fell in the second 19-6.

The Panthers trailed by just two, 15-13, with 2:47 to go in the second quarter, but Fort Madison ended with a 13-0 run. Mt. Pleasant followed with the rally.

Mt. Pleasant ends its season at 11-12.

“The seniors have been the rock of our program,” Watson said. “It’s going to be really hard to go to practice next year and not seeing them around. We’re so use to seeing them around. They’re all going to be very well missed.”