Little Miami’s dream season came to an end on Friday afternoon at Value City Arena in Columbus, Ohio, as the Panthers were beaten 51-44 by Mentor Lake Catholic in the semifinals of the girls’ Division II state tournament.

The Panthers (26-1) came into the game unbeaten, ranked No. 1 in the state and playing in their first Final Four in school history but were derailed by a poor shooting performance that saw them shoot just 25.4 percent for the game including 20 percent in the second half where they made just 7-of-35 field goals attempts.

Mentor Lake Catholic (17-10) shot only 38.9 percent from the field and had to overcome 29 turnovers but still managed to prevail.

Little Miami led 26-23 at halftime after a back-and-forth first half that saw several lead changes and the game stayed close for most of the second half with neither team leading by more than four points. 

Little Miami’s Jessie Carmack made a 3-pointer with 3:40 left in the game to tie the score at 42-42.  But the Panthers went cold down the stretch, shooting just 1-of-10 the rest of the way with three turnovers.  The Cougars took the lead at 44-42 on a lay-up by Courtney Schuster at the 2:52 mark and out-scored Little Miami 7-2 the rest of the way to advance to the championship game on Saturday.

Missy Ramsey scored a team-high 10 points for Little Miami.  Courtney Grambley scored six points and had seven rebounds.  Mentor Lake Catholic’s Jill Mohr had a double-double with 11 points and 15 rebounds.