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Washington Evening Journal
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Panthers sweep Tigers
Mt. Pleasant picks up rivalry road wins on the road
Southeast Iowa Union offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
NEW LONDON — Two towns just a short drive away from each other met up at Charles Lorber gymnasium in New London on Monday night for a girl-boy basketball clash between the hosting Tigers and neighbor-to-the-west Mt. Pleasant.
It was Mt. Pleasant’s day to shine. The Panther girls dominated 59-11, while the boys took down the Tigers 75-52.
The Panther girls went crazy from the field in the first quarter, dropping in 26 points to jump out to a commanding lead early on.
Myah Starr’s seven-point first quarter helped the Panthers go up 26-5 at the first horn, and the Mt. Pleasant defense pitched a shutout in the second, blanking the Tigers 8-0 to lead 34-5 at the half.
“We were using a lot of teamwork and getting a lot of assists, which was good,” Starr said. “I think we were all kind of itching to run all the plays we’ve worked on the last couple of weeks, and I think we executed them pretty well.”
The Panthers shut the Tigers out again in the third quarter, scoring 17 unanswered points to bring the score to 51-5.
“One thing we have been talking about is how we’ve got to have a better start,” said New London head coach Curt Watson. “I want to give a big shout out to my five seniors who started tonight.”
Starr’s 11 points and five steals led Mt. Pleasant. Kynlee White finished with 10 points and five rebounds. Haylay Lydolph and Paityn Ensminger each had eight points and three steals, and Elodie Rawson scored eight points of her own.
Abby Carthey finished the night with six points. Bella Dodds had three. Ellaina McMullin and Delania Hourihan each scored two, and Linzy Striegel chipped in with one.
New London’s Molly Proost scored five points. Paige Shull-Collins and Katelyn Allen each put in three.
“Our girls are continuously learning to play with speed, and how to play against speed,” said New London head coach Austin Burns.
Burns, who’s team is small, at only seven players, also talked about watching his team try to grow and learn the game despite not winning a contest so far this year.
“It’s fun to watch them learn and grow,” Burns said. “They come to practice every day, and I’m really thankful for this group of girls, that they are all out and that they are showing up and growing every single day.”
The Tiger boys had a fantastic first half shooting the ball, especially Israel Lemley, who went off for four 3-pointers in the first half, scoring 14 points. Despite that, Mt. Pleasant still held a slim 32-30 lead at the break, after initially being up 18-6.
“I can’t believe the amount of shots they made,” said Mt. Pleasant senior Noah Lange. “That was crazy.”
Lange, who alongside Ryan Helling made his season debut in the previous game due to injury, got to bust out with a 16-point, 10-rebound game. Helling co-led the team in points, with 16, including four 3-pointers of his own.
“We’ve been working at practice and giving it 100%, and now using that on the court,” Lange said.
Isaiah Lange finished the night with 13 points and seven rebounds. Grayson Lowery had 10 points and seven rebounds. Carter Gehling and Keegan Heaton scored seven each, and both Aiden Humble and Brody Clark scored three.
For New London, Brigham Porter put in a team-high 18 points. Lemley finished with 17. London Frankling had nine, and the trio of Logan Franklin, Gavin Strawhacker and Cole Swanson put in two apiece.
The Mt. Pleasant girls and boys are now 2-7 and 2-6 respectively. New London sits at 0-8 in both.
