For at least half of Saturday’s Class 1, District championship game, Mercer basketball fans were confident Tori Meinecke would lead them to Tuesday night’s sectional round at St. Joseph’s Civic Arena, despite the fact that the Lady Cardinals could field only 5 players for the game. After all, she dominated the lane in the first 2 quarters, going practically unchallenged in scoring 14 of her team’s 21 points.
Pattonsburg’s Lady Panthers had different ideas when they exited the locker room for the second half. Doubling down on the 5’11” sophomore, the Lady Panthers held Meinecke to 4 points in the third quarter and just one free throw in the fourth to come away with a 39-33 victory at North Central Missouri College in Trenton.
A Jillian Plymell 3-ball and Webby Bailey layup cut a 7 point MHS lead to one early in the third period. When Plymell hit a layup off a Jenna Heath pass, the game stood tied for the first time since the opening tipoff. Meanwhile, Meinecke’s spin shots in the lane continued to come up short on the rim and produced few second-shot offensive possessions.
Bailey notched 1 of 2 free throws at the 2:56 mark of the fourth quarter to give her team a 32-31 lead. Seconds later Bailey canned both ends of a 2-shot foul. A frustrated Meinecke picked up her fourth foul as all 5 Lady Bulldogs would finish in foul trouble. A total of 9 players in the game would labor in the fourth quarter with at least 3 fouls.
Heath and Bailey combined to convert 4 of 5 free throw attempts down the stretch. Bailey finished with a game-high 21 points for the Lady Panthers.
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