Schools

Mehlville Girls Down Oakville in Seesaw Game

The Tigers started with the lead, but lost the momentum in a home game.

The lead changed 10 times in a tight girls basketball rivalry game between  and host . In the end, it was the Mehlville Panthers that pulled ahead for the Suburban West Conference win, 33-28.

The game was a Coaches vs. Cancer fundraiser, and pink socks, T-shirts, balloons and ribbons were everywhere.

Oakville freshman forward Alyssa Norberg scored six points in the first period to help the Tigers to a 10-7 lead. She was the team-high scorer for Oakville with 10 points.

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The Tigers were helped by Panther turnovers in the first period. Oakville head coach Aaron Bosch said they knew ball-handling was a Mehlville weakness.

“We worked a lot on defense this week, and we tried to switch up a lot early,” Bosch said. “I think we confused them a lot early.”

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Oakville was able to score some easy 2-on-1 and 3-on-2 baskets in the first half. They tried to pick it up in the second half but the tempo slowed down and went Mehlville’s way. That’s when the lead started seesawing.

“You could tell that both teams were ready for a win, we just executed a little bit better at the end,” Mehlville head coach Laura Bishop said. “Finally hit some outside shots. Those definitely helped.”

After nine lead changes, with three minutes to go, Mehlville sophomore guard Emily Fox went 1-for-1 from the foul line to tie it at 28. Fox was the Panther team-high scorer with 11 points.

The score stayed tied at 28 until 55 seconds were left on the clock. Panther junior guard Sierra Gray hit the outside shot to put Oakville up for good.

“She’s our definitely our go-to girl on situations like that,” Bishop said. “And she can definitely set stuff up and she likes to make the plays, so that’s nice.”

Gray had nine points on the night.

The win leaves Mehlville at 8-14 (2-4 in the Suburban West Conference). Oakville stands at 6-15 overall (0-6 in the conference).

Both teams have conference games coming up on Friday. Oakville is at home against Marquette (9-12 overall) and Mehlville is at Northwest (9-12 overall).

See more photos from the game on our Facebook page. 


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