Mendota and St. Bede locked up in a tight battle with the Lady Trojans pulling out a 46-43 win in Three Rivers Conference action on Dec. 1 at Peru.

Mendota led by a bucket after the opening stanza (10-8), but St. Bede heated up in the second quarter to take a 25-21 win to the locker room. It was the Lady Trojans that rallied in the third period to tie things up (31-31), and then they had their best quarter of the game by scoring 15 points in the fourth compared to 12 for the Lady Bruins.

“Everyone really stepped up in the second half,” said Mendota coach John Hansen. “We knocked down some real big free throws late to get a nice win.”

Mendota was only 11 of 27 from the stripe in the contest, but made five in the crucial fourth quarter.

Katie Jenner paced the Mendota scoring attack with 15 points, followed by Reanna Brant with 10 and Grace Wasmer with eight. The Lady Trojans totaled 44 rebounds, with Brant grabbing 14 and Wasmer snaring 12. Jenner and Brant collected five and four steals, respectively.

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Putnam County staved off Mendota, 43-40, in a nonconference contest on Dec. 3 at Granville.

After trailing 15-9 at the end of one period, the Lady Trojans closed the gap and were down by just one (31-30) heading to the fourth, but they could not overtake the home team.

“I thought this was our best start to finish game,” commented Hansen.

Jenner pumped in 18 points and had four steals, while Brant added 13 points and 16 rebounds.

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A frigid second half sent the Lady Trojans to a 43-25 setback at the hands of conference foe Hall on Dec. 5 at the MHS gym.

Mendota (2-7, 1-2) was down 23-18 at the break and 30-25 after three frames, but it was outscored 13-0 in the fourth.

Jenner led the offense with nine points, while Brant had nine rebounds.