MORROW -- The Little Miami Lady Panthers jumped out to at 16-2 first quarter lead over the visiting West Clermont Lady Wolves on Wednesday night in the PAC while elevating their record to 7-8 overall, and climbing back to even at 5-5 (.500) in the Eastern Cincinnati Conference. The loss for the Lady Wolves dropped them to 8-6 overall, and 4-5 in the ECC. The teams effectively traded the No. 5 and 6 spots in the league standings.

With 4:01 in first quarter, the offensive explosion was ignited by junior Mara Briscoe as she logged the first Lady Panthers three-pointer of the contest and pushed the host Panthers ahead 7-2, resulting in a timeout by Wolves head coach Jeff Click. Following the 30-second stoppage, Little Miami continued to pour on the points and with 3 seconds left in the first stanza senior guard Ally Grake added her own three-pointer to put Little Miami ahead 16-2 at the horn.

After the fast start, the second quarter wasn't such a sprint for Little Miami. The Lady Panthers got sluggish and the offense seemingly stalled until the 2:17 mark in the quarter when Briscoe added her second three-pointer of the game to push the score to 22-7. Less than an minute later, center Brooke Thompson chipped in a layup off of an Ally Grake assist, and with 55 seconds remaining in the half Briscoe netted her third three of the game giving her a game-high 11 points at the intermission and extending the Panther lead to 27-7.

"I told our team at halftime we needed to keep the pressure on and continue to rally," said Panthers head coach Felisha Hartmann. "We responded in the third quarter, but we'll keep working to finish strong in the fourth."

Following the intermission, Little Miami rallied for 13 third quarter points while West Clermont chipped in nine (40-22). Momentum seemed to stay in Little Miami's hands to start the half, but the host Panthers appeared show some fatigue heading into the final quarter.

After the opening basket of the fourth, the Lady Panthers offense went dormant for nearly five minutes while West Clermont seemingly found their rhythm. The Lady Wolves exploded for 21 fourth quarter points compared to the Panthers five. In the end, Little Miami held off the visitors 45-37 for the ECC win.

"As I said last week, our goal is to elevate our play in the second half of the season and continue to climb in the ECC, tonight we continued to fulfill that mission as we won our third-straight," Hartmann concluded.

Junior guard Mara Briscoe led the Lady Panthers with a game-high 23 points and four rebounds, who next gear up for a road contest at Walnut Hills on Saturday night. The JV is set to tip off at 6 and the varsity follows at 7:30 PM.

Walnut Hills currently resides at No. 4 in the ECC at 8-5 overall, and 6-5 in conference play.