Mitchell senior Peyton Pittman drives past Mountain Heritage’s Morgan Atkins Friday, Jan. 10, during the Lady Mountaineers’ 59-49 loss to the Lady Cougars. (MNJ/Brandon Roberts)
LEDGER – The Mitchell High School varsity girls’ varsity basketball team earned a pair of wins this past week over Owen and East Rutherford but saw its two-game winning streak snapped after a loss to rival Mountain Heritage.
The Class 1A No. 3-ranked Mountaineers (8-4, 1-1) went on the road and throttled Owen 64-12 Monday, Jan. 6, and followed that game with a 67-32 win Wednesday, Jan. 8, over visiting East Rutherford.
Junior Marley Cloer led the Mountaineers in scoring against Owen with 14 points. Sophomore Chandra Jenkins added 10 points and senior April Huskins pulled down a team-high nine rebounds.
Jenkins and junior Jill Pittman led the way against East Rutherford by tying for the team lead in scoring with 11 points each. Senior Hannah McMahan added 10 points and a team-high seven assists.
In its 59-49 loss to Mountain Heritage Friday, Jan. 10, Mitchell started slow and surged late.
The Cougars led 19-7 after one quarter and took a 34-18 lead into halftime. The Mountaineers trailed 52-32 at the beginning of the final quarter and outscored the Cougars 17-7 in the fourth to trim the deficit in half.
Junior Paige Johnson led the Mountaineers with 19 points and eight rebounds. McMahan added 10 points and registered a team-high five assists.
The Mountaineers play two of their next three games on the road. The team traveled to Madison Tuesday, Jan. 14. Results were not available at press time.
Mitchell then turns its focus to a home game against Polk Friday, Jan. 17, before heading back on the road Saturday, Jan. 18, for a duel against non-conference foe T. Wingate Andrews.