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It took Mineral Point's girls basketball team the better part of three quarters to figure out a way to gain the upper hand at Iowa-Grant Thursday.
The Pointers trailed by seven at the half and saw the Panther lead swell to 12 before they turned things in their favor.
As it turned out, the Panthers still threatened with under a minute left but, the Pointers prevailed in the SWAL match-up, 48-43.
The Pointers cruised to a 9-0 lead and worked at keeping the ball away from Panther center Josi Olson. The Panthers then regrouped and went on a 25-9 run to gain the lead at halftime, 25-18.
The Panthers added a three point play after halftime before the Pointers made their move.
"We started to figure it out," said Pointer coach Mitch Wainwright.
The switch to a zone defense also helped the Pointers control the flow of the game.
"When we switched to the zone it seemed to slow them down," Wainwright added.
The defensive switch also created some turnovers that the Pointers were able to convert off the drive instead of creating off the dribble.
Hannah Lawinger turned in a 10 point second half and Hannah Goninen scored seven in the third quarter to help the Pointers in their comeback. They led 38-34 at the end of three quarters and outscored the Panthers 10-9 in the final frame to ice the win.
Lawinger finished with 13 points and Goninen added nine.
Josi Olson was a force for the Panthers with 19 points and nine rebounds. She scored eight of the points during the Panther second quarter run and had 10 in the book by the end of the first half.
"We got the ball inside to Josi," Panther coach Jason Schulting said. "She had a great night."
The Panthers also got some offensive help from Alyssa Larsen and Jackie Olson who had nine and six points. Alyssa Larsen had seven in the last quarter to keep the Panthers close.
Caitlyn Qualley led the defensive surge for the Pointers with some strong perimeter play. She ended up with eight points, seven steals and four assists.
"She got some key steals and easy baskets for us," Wainwright said. "She either scored off the steals or passed to someone else who did."
"Our defense created scoring opportunities for us," Wainwright added. "Getting steals at midcourt and taking the ball to the basket the second half was a key to the win."
Wainwright also said Lawinger nailed a couple three pointers at key times for the Pointers during their second half run.
Even with the loss, Schulting said the Panthers can take some positives away from the game.
"It was probably our most complete game of the year so far," Schulting said. "We played well in building an 11 point lead in the third quarter and we got the ball inside to Josi who had a great night."
"I thought our team defense did a tremendous job all night long," Schulting added. "They earned what they got. I give Lawinger credit. We made her work for what she got, and she hit some big shots when they needed them."
Foul trouble by the Panthers played into the game, especially in the second half.
"We got into some foul trouble in the second half that led to some turnovers and easy baskets for them that made the lead shrink pretty quick," Schulting said. "It was a one possession game with under a minute and we got a shot but couldn't get it to fall. We had another opportunity but turned it over. We had our chances."
"It's a tough one to lose because we played well, but I think we can build off of this," Schulting said. "We talked about it after the game. We're only half way through the conference season and if we continue to play like this we will win a few games the second time through."
Besides Josi Olson's nine rebound, Alyssa Larsen picked off six for the Panthers.
Rachell Foreman, Kaylee Larsen, and Jackie Olson had two assists each.
Alyssa, Josi, and Kaylee Larsen all had two steals.
Emily Mitchell and Carrie Graber both had six rebounds and Lawinger picked off five for the Pointers.
Lawinger dished off eight assists.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
MP 16 2 10 10 48
IG 8 17 9 9 43
BOX SCORE
MINERAL POINT 48: (fg-ft-tp) Lawinger 4-2-13, C. Graber 2-0-4, Qualley 3-1-8, Mitchell 3-0-6, Goninen 4-1-9, Dolphin 1-0-2, Pilling 0-0-0, Wainwright 0-0-0, Ottoway 0-2-2 Totals 19-6/19-48 Fouls-10
IOWA-GRANT 43: Foreman 2-0-4, Buchanan 0-0-0, A. Larsen 4-0-9, Ja. Olson 3-0-6, K. Larsen 2-0-5. Enloe 0-0-0, Daentl 0-0-0, Jo. Olson 8-3-19 Totals 19-3/3-43 Fouls-17 Fouled out-Ja. Olson
3 point goals
MP-Lawinger 3, Qualley 1
IG-A. Larsen 1, K.Larsen 1