(Peru, Neb.)—The Peru State women's basketball defeated Mount Mercy, 61-53, in a defensive battle on Thursday night. The Bobcats are now 7-12 overall and 3-10 in Heart of America Athletic Conference play while the Mustangs fall to 8-11 overall and 4-9 in conference play.
Below is a breakdown of how the game went…
Mount Mercy got off to a hot start leading 10-4 halfway through the first quarter of the play. It was a slow start for the Bobcats as they only mustered eight points in the first quarter. Sam Stewart
(Mount Ayr, Iowa) scored the final bucket in the first quarter as the Bobcats trailed by only five 13-8.
Peru State opened the second quarter on a 7-0 run to take a 15-13 lead with around seven and half minutes to play in the first half. Contributing to the run were buckets by
Olivia Williams (Minneapolis, Minn.),
Julie Miller (Easton, Kan.) and
Maddy Duncan (Hamburg, Iowa) had a three during the run.
The Mustangs and the Bobcats would spend the next several minutes trading buckets and the lead back-and-forth. Mount Mercy tried to extend its lead a couple times late in the first half as they were up three with three and half minutes to go and then up four, 28-24, with under two minutes to play in the second quarter.
Duncan finished the half on a 6-0 run by herself knocking down two triples as the Bobcats regained the lead 30-28 going into the half.
Mount Mercy tied the game right away to start the second half, then the Bobcats and Mustangs would once again trade buckets but Mount Mercy could never find the lead. Peru State a little later in the third quarter went on a 7-0 run to take a 40-33 lead with under four minutes to play in the quarter.
Peru State headed into the final quarter of play up five 40-35. Mount Mercy would cut the lead down to three immediately in the fourth. Peru State would keep Mount Mercy at arm's length for much of the fourth quarter as they were up, 44-39, after a
Kaylan Larry (Little Rock, Ark.) layup.
The Bobcats then went on a mini 8-4 run capped off by a layup from
Jescenia Mosley (Shenandoah, Iowa) as Peru State now led 52-43 with three minutes and change to play.
The Mustangs then went on a 6-0 run to trimmed the lead down to three with just over two minutes to play.
Hailey Ingram (Omaha) then knocked down four huge free throws to push the Bobcat lead back out to seven as they led 56-49 with a little over a minute to play.
The Bobcats would hold on for the 61-53 victory.
Peru State shot 19-of-67 from the field shooting 28.4%, 4-of-14 from beyond the arc shooting 28.6% and 19-of-30 from the charity stripe shooting 63.3%.
Mount Mercy shot 20-of-59 from the field shooting 33.9%, 4-of-14 from three shooting 28.6% and 9-of-12 from the line shooting 75%.
Mount Mercy outscored Peru State 28-24 in the paint Peru State had 18 points off turnovers compared to Mount Mercy's eight. Mount Mercy had 18 bench points and Peru State had 16.
Leading the way in scoring was Duncan with 16, Ingram finished with 11 and Larry had seven.
Danielle Howard (Uniontown, Kan.) finished with a team high eight rebounds and Ingram led the team in steals with three.
Peru State hits the road to face Culver-Stockton on Saturday, January 21, in Canton, Mo. Tip-Off is scheduled for 2:00 p.m.
