Playing strong defense most of the evening, the Class 4A fourth-ranked Pantherettes downed 5A Belton 57-31 in non-district girls basketball action.
The Lady Tigers’ inability to construct an offense was the major culprit in Belton’s seventh loss in 13 starts. The sins were many - the shots, inside and out, did not fall and the ball was turned over too often.
“Their defense had a little to do with it,” Belton coach Randy Bell said of a game in which his team trailed 45-17 with 4:57 to go. “We just couldn’t get anything going.
“We missed too many easy shots and had no 3-point game.”
It was a milestone game for first-year Midway coach Teri Morrison as she claimed her 400th career win after stops at Royse City and Mesquite Poteet.
“I’ve got 11 here (against two losses),” said Morrison, who didn’t seem all that pleased with the Pantherettes’ performance. “I felt that we turned it over too much. The best thing was that we got a lot of minutes for all our kids.”
With Reed caressing the strings with a bow, Midway was led offensively by Macy Wishmeier and Delisa Gross with 12 points each. Makenzie Robertson, sophomore daughter of Baylor coach Kim Mulkey, added 10.
Seniors Bailey Heitmiller and Gaby Guzman scored eight points each for a Belton team that scored only 15 points in the first three quarters.
In fact, Belton scored more than half its points in the final 4:37 as it constructed a 10-2 run over a span of one minute and 47 seconds behind a pair of buckets by Maeli Anderson.
Midway, which led by as many as 28 on three occasions, then posted its own 10-2 run - built on eight free throws - to stretch the margin to that point again with 22 seconds to go.
The contest got off to an extremely slow start. It was deadlocked at 5-5 with 3:50 to go in the first quarter.
However, three consecutive baskets off of steals - two by Krissica Harper - jump-started the Pantherettes. Midway then expanded its lead after eight minutes to hold a 20-10 margin at the half.
With the 6-1 Wischmeier putting down a pair of 3-pointers and Gross playing strong underneath, Midway posted a 16-5 edge in the third quarter to eliminate any remaining drama.
Belton, which opens District 13-5A action next Tuesday at College Station A&M Consolidated, returns to action at 7 p.m. Friday at Pflugerville Connally.
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