Panthers swept by Keokuk

The Keokuk Chiefs have been quite the thorn in the side of Mt. Pleasant's winter sports season. The Chiefs continued to get the best of Mt. Pleasant on Friday night, handing the Panthers a 48-40 loss in the boys game at Keokuk, and a 63-28 loss in the girls game at Mt. Pleasant.

The Panther boys had a shot to stay in the conference race if they could beat the Chiefs in Keokuk, but the Chiefs held the Panthers to an abysmal night shooting the ball. Mt. Pleasant went 14-for-42 from the field and 2-for-13 from 3-point land.

Mt. Pleasant led 10-7 after one quarter. Keokuk came back in the second to lead 20-17 at halftime, and the Chiefs crawled away in the last two periods, beating Mt. Pleasant 13-10 in the third quarter and 15-13 in the fourth.

Clayton Lowery led the Panthers with 10 points, four steals and two blocked shots. Brevin Wilson had 10 points of his own.

Keegan Kohorst had seven points. Brody Bender scored five points and pulled down 10 rebounds. Jack Johnson and Jaxon Hoyle scored four points apiece.

The Panthers had their hands full against the 15th-ranked and first-place Keokuk girls team. Mt. Pleasant trailed 20-12 after the first quarter, 35-16 at halftime and 55-22 after three periods.

'Mike Davis just does a tremendous job teaching defense,” said Mt. Pleasant coach Curt Watson. 'That's what they play. They hang their hat on it, they take care of it and they go after you. If you put the ball in front, they're going to take it. They're not going to let you get anything easy, and they didn't let us get anything easy.”

Andrea Lopreato scored seven points to lead the Mt. Pleasant girls. Isabel Ashton had six points. Lydia Stewart finished with five. Ava Lowery had four, and the trio of Emma Huckabone, Tristian Shull and Avery Sutter had two each.

The Mt. Pleasant boys are now 8-8 overall and 4-4 in conference play. They'll host Iowa City Regina on Tuesday night. The girls are 4-13 overall and 3-5 in the Southeast Conference. They have a date with Notre Dame tonight on the road.