Panthers survive Cougars’ fourth-quarter rally, will play for Monroe City Tournament championship

MONROE CITY, Mo. — Why?

That is all Palmyra girls basketball coach Kelsey Stuart could think as she watched Highland eat away at the Panthers’ 19-point lead over the final 4 minutes, 45 seconds of Wednesday night’s semifinal in the 100th Monroe City Tournament.

“Why did we decide to feel comfortable even though I warned them every time?” Stuart said. “We still have to play our game. Do not let them get on a roll.”

The Cougars scored 17 points in a three-minute span and narrowed what was once a 45-26 deficit to 47-43 on a Keera Rothweiler layup off a Panthers turnover with 1:10 left.

While Stuart may have been frustrated, she was not surprised at the Cougars’ fight.

“They’re a very tough team, very well coached, and they’re going to fight to the end,” said Stuart, whose Panthers never relinquished the lead in what turned out to be a 48-43 victory. “That did not surprise me.”

The Panthers just had to keep their cool.

“Going in and playing Highland, you know they’re always going to get after you from the first second to the last. They have so much grit,” Palmyra senior forward Sydney Compton said. “That’s what’s so hard about Highland. They never stop coming at you. I’m telling you, it was a blur.

“Whenever things like that happen, you just have to remember to stay in the game and keep yourself and your team uplifted, just stay together, remember that the game’s not over and just keep going.”

The Cougars missed their final six shots and Compton made a free throw with 9.4 seconds left to give the Panthers the 48-43, teeth-clenching victory and send them to Saturday’s championship game.

“I told them, ‘It just takes one. Here we are. How are we going to battle now? Are we going to defeat ourselves, or are we going to fight back?’” Stuart said. “Obviously we fought back. It was ugly, but we made it to the end.”

Highland coach Ashton Jaco liked the Cougars’ chances if they had a little more time, but the hole they dug themselves was just too deep.

“We put ourselves in a really tough position,” Jaco said. “If we have another minute and a half, maybe it’s different, but we just ran out of time, ran out of steam at the end.”

Palmyra held Highland to three points and one made field goal in the third quarter and stretched its lead to 39-26 by the end of that stanza.

“We looked kind of lifeless there for basically the whole quarter and three and a half minutes of the fourth quarter,” Jaco said. 

Palmyra scored the first six points of the fourth quarter, then a Chevie Sharpe transition layup with 4:10 left set the Cougars’ 17-2 run in motion.

“We hit one shot, and we had some pep in our step and made a crazy comeback,” Jaco said. “We just ran out of time there at the end.”

Panthers senior point guard Clare Williams went into takeover mode over a 50-second span late in the third quarter to help the Panthers extend their cushion.

“She had to,” Stuart said.

With 1:37 left in the quarter, Williams made a contested layup to give the Panthers a 35-26 lead. After an empty Cougars possession on the other end, Williams saw Compton sprinting down the middle of the floor and delivered a pinpoint outlet pass for a layup. Twenty seconds later, Williams blocked Sharpe’s shot, got the rebound and once again fired a pass over the top to Compton for another transition lay-in and subsequent brief celebration between the dynamic duo.

“I ran to (Compton), gave her a high five, and we got right back on defense ready for the next play,” Williams said.

Williams was in her element during that sequence.

“That’s my style — being everywhere on the court, getting assists to Syd, making layups, steals, blocks, all that is just my kind of thing,” Williams said.

It was just the spark the Panthers needed considering the Cougars’ fourth quarter flurry.

“It was a lot of heart and a lot of grit,” Stuart said. “She knew what our team needed and she got it done.”

Williams and Compton, the Panthers’ lone seniors, scored 18 points apiece to give themselves a chance at their second career Monroe City Tournament championship. The pair won the tournament title as sophomores in 2022.

Stuart said getting back to the championship game is an accomplishment in itself.

“With losing six seniors, a lot of people didn’t think we’d even get to this point this early in the season,” Stuart said. “The fact that we’re playing on Saturday should prove to a lot of people that these girls do have a lot of grit and they are going to battle to the very end.”

Whatever external doubt may have existed has provided fuel for Compton.

“This year, Palmyra is the underdogs. We’re usually not, but this year we definitely are, losing so many great seniors and having such a young team,” Compton said. “Being able to win this game and go to the championship, it feels amazing.”

The Panthers (4-1) will face the winner between top-seeded South Shelby and fourth-seeded Monroe City in Thursday’s semifinal. Saturday’s championship game is scheduled to tip at 5:15 p.m.

The Cougars (7-1) will face the loser of that semifinal clash in the third-place game at 7 p.m. Friday.

“You hate moral victories, especially for our team because we’re a good basketball team,” Jaco said. “We shouldn’t be hanging our hats on moral victories by any means, but it does give us a little momentum. We didn’t want to play Friday night, but it is what it is, and we have to show up and play for third place against either Monroe or South, which are both very good basketball teams.”