LaSalle-Peru poured it on from the opening tip and cruised to a 66-20 win over Mendota in varsity girls’ basketball action on Jan. 2 at the L-P gym.
The Lady Cavs scored 20 points in each of the first two quarters to open a 40-11 halftime cushion. The home team led 57-17 with one quarter to play.
“We forgot our defense and energy from 2024,” stated Mendota coach John Hansen. “Hopefully we get a couple of our players back as soon as possible and that energy we’ve had all year returns, because it just wasn’t here tonight.”
Ella Coss led Mendota with seven points and Karson Doyle paced the team with six rebounds.
The Lady Trojans connected on just 15 percent of their field goal attempts and 36 percent of their free throws.
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Mendota and Amboy played for the second time in a week and the Lady Clippers prevailed again, 51-29, on Jan. 3 at the MHS gym.
The Lady Trojans were slow out of the gate, putting up just five points in the first quarter compared to 17 for Amboy. Mendota matched its five points in the second period while the Lady Clippers scored nine to take a 26-10 halftime lead.
Mendota was able to cut into the deficit with an 8-4 third quarter as Laylie Denault scored six of the eight points for the Lady Trojans and Amboy got just a pair of buckets from Jillian Anderson, but the Lady Clippers exploded for 21 fourth-quarter points to win going away. Amboy’s Addison Pertell tallied seven of her 10 points in the final frame.
“We could not hit a shot tonight,” noted Hansen. “We played well considering that. We could’ve lost by 50, but showed up elsewhere to make up for the poor shooting.”
Mendota hit 12 of 46 (26 percent) shots from the field, including just two of 18 from three-point range.
Ava Eddy topped the scoring chart for Mendota with nine points. She also had six rebounds and three steals. Denault added six points, four rebounds and three steals, while Cassie Gonzalez hauled down eight rebounds and had six blocked shots, and Ella Martin collected four boards.
Anderson paced Amboy with 11 points. Tyrah Vaessen and Emily Sachs chipped in with eight points apiece for the Lady Clippers.
